A Game of Heroes
by ivory-sword
Summary: Aspen and Steve are now living in Avengers Tower with their teammates fighting villains and saving lives just like they wanted, but Steve struggles with what he wants in his future while Aspen wrestles the question of whether or not people like her can be heroes. Lives are threatened, friendships are forged, and secrets are divulged as the Avengers face their darkest times.
1. Part One: Vigilantes

**Author's Note:** Welcome to A Game of Heroes, the fourth story in my Avengers series! If you have not read A Game of Trust yet and are interested in reading my series, please read that first. Story order: A Game of Trust, A Game of Enemies, Agent Tolvar, A Game of Winter, A Game of Heroes. I also have A Game of War which is based on my OC from this series, but is a stand alone story as well.

If you have read all of my stories up to this point, I'm so excited for you to read this! Thank you so much! I enjoy writing these stories so much, and it is still incredible to me that I have readers. A Game of Heroes will include Age of Ultron and Civil War. It's going to be longer. I'm not quite finished writing part one, but it's going to probably be 11 or 12 chapters instead of the usual 8 per part. I really wanted to get posting though since I've been taking forever to write it. Chapter one is my favorite so far. We get to see some banter and fun dialogue between the characters which will be a reoccurring thing throughout the story. I'm so excited to finally get to write ALL of the Avengers. What a fun challenge. I'm also really excited to delve deeper into some stuff that Age of Ultron left wanting... But that's part three!

Thanks again for reading!

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 **Part One: Vigilantes**

 **Prologue – May 15, 2008**

Smoke issued from the two-story house across the street. The dark-haired boy sat on the cold cement curb watching the firefighters douse the flames with their hoses. The jets of water did little at first as the flames continued to consume the structure, but eventually the flames succumbed. It was too late for the three people inside. They would be ashes by now. There would be no bodies for the gurneys to roll out into the waiting ambulances.

"I can take away your problem," a voice said, startling the boy. He looked up to see a man standing beside him. He hadn't heard him approach.

"What problem?" What did this stranger know of his problems?

"You couldn't control those flames any more than you could stop them. I can make them stop."

The boy froze. "Who are you?" He got slowly to his feet and stared the man down. There was nothing threatening about him. He looked like a professor or a lawyer in his worn suit and novelty tie but his eyes held an understanding as if he could see straight through the boy to the very core of who he was.

"Professor Peter Stewart," the man replied, holding out a card. The boy reached for it. It listed all the PhDs the professor had attained. "I teach over at Columbia University," he told the boy.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"I also work for an organization called A.I.M. or Advanced Idea Mechanics. We work with people like you. We can help you."

"I want to get rid of it," the boy said emphatically. As if to prove his point, the business card turned to ashes in his hand. "I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"Then it's lucky I found you," Stewart said. "Come with me and we'll make sure you don't hurt anyone with your abilities again."

…

Sirens sounded several blocks away and the boy hurried down a dark alley. The flames flickered at his fingers, never out for too long. He was always on the move, always running ever since he'd learned the truth: no one could help him. He was alone and would have to stay that way if he didn't want hurt anyone else.

Rustling to his left had him jumping. Flames leapt up on his palms and he frantically tried to put them out. The last thing he needed was a witness to his curse. "You gonna light a fire or are we going to freeze out here?" a voice said from the shadows. The boy nearly jumped out of his skin. A cardboard box to his left shifted slightly and a girl emerged. She had dark skin and curiously gold eyes. She took him in, flames and all, but didn't blink at his ability.

"Everyone else usually screams and runs away by now," he said. He felt himself relax and the flames went out.

"I don't scream or run away," the girl said.

"That's a first." He was so used to being alone, so used to avoiding anyone who might think he was a monster or worse, something to be studied. This girl was the first person to look at him like there was nothing wrong with him.

"You been running a long time?" the girl asked.

"Ever since I caught my girlfriend's house on fire and killed her and her parents."

"I've been running too," the girl said. "Guess I do run away, but not from people like you."

"Are you…are you like _me_?" the boy asked eagerly.

"See for yourself." The girl held out her palms. For a moment nothing happened but then a streetlight flickered on the street beyond the alley and electricity sparked up and down the girl's fingertips. "I found out I had this ability when I was holding my boyfriend's hand. He died. So I guess we both have skeletons in our closets."

The boy was speechless for a moment. "I'm Julian," he said finally. He almost held out a hand but stopped himself.

The girl seemed to catch the motion, but she didn't seem offended. "Amber."

"What's your story, Amber? Were you born like this?"

"My powers just sort of sparked to life that day I killed my boyfriend. I tried to tell my parents what happened but they didn't believe me. They sent me to a clinic that tried to cure me. They did everything they could think of short of ripping me apart and putting me back together. I escaped. I've been hiding from the world ever since afraid of who might try to find me."

"There are monsters out there," Julian agreed. "They think we're something to study. They don't understand."

"But you do." Her golden eyes looked desperate for a moment, and he realized she was just as lonely and scared as he was.

"I do. But I also can't control them. I'm afraid of hurting someone else. Maybe the world would be better off without me."

"You can learn to control them, Julian. I learned to control my powers."

"You did?" The hope that sprung up inside of him was painful, rusty. It hadn't been used in years.

"I can help you," Amber said. "We could stick together."

"Are there others like us out there?" Julian asked. Were they hiding, scared like him?

"I'm sure there are."

"We need to find them. We need to save them from the monsters that want to study them. We need to show those monsters that we're not test subjects. We're human beings. We're better than humans. We're elite."

"First we get you under control," Amber said. "Then we form a team. No one will ever hurt us again." Electricity buzzed, lighting up her palms. "I'm tired of hiding." Julian let the flames shoot up along his own palms and they stood together in the alley, lighting it with their fire and electricity. Julian felt a trill of pleasure at the power he suddenly felt. It was time for the rejects of the world to stand up and make a place for themselves.


	2. A Day in the Life of an Avenger

**Author's Note:** I had so much fun writing this chapter. You have no idea.

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 **1 – A Day in the Life of an Avenger – January 21, 2015**

Aspen skirted around the ruins of the brick building. Fire still smoldered inside, and she hastily ran to the opposite side of the street crouching below the window of an ash-coated house. Two men spoke inside in hushed German. They were talking about the bombs they'd planted at the edge of the city that would be set off once their men were clear. Aspen couldn't let that happen.

" _What was that?_ " one of the men said suddenly. Aspen froze. The men looked around but they didn't seem to notice Aspen. She let out a breath and moved stealthily around the side of the building. If she could just figure out where the bombs had been planted she could disarm them. Or should she just evacuate the city? Before she had the chance to decide the best course of action there was a racket inside the building. There was gunfire and then people began to scream as vicious explosions went off across the city.

Aspen cursed as buildings went up in flames and people ran in all directions. She ran into the building where she'd seen the two men. They were both dead but one of them gripped a device that had clearly set off the bombs. Another man stood across the room.

"Damnit Clint! You're supposed to make sure the bombs _don't_ go off!" she shouted.

"I'm sorry if _someone's_ cat jumped up on my lap right when I was trying to disarm him." Clint threw down the video game controller.

"You gave her to me!" Aspen defended as the village went up in flames on the TV screen. "You're just making up excuses because you're lousy at this game."

"I'm not _lousy_ , I'm just more skilled in real life when it actually counts."

"Are you two playing that game again?" Tony asked, walking into the room. He was holding his tablet and showing something to Bruce.

"Maybe."

"She's always going to win, Clint," Tony told the archer.

"Is he always this sore of a loser?" Bruce asked, adjusting his glasses.

"You should see him after I kick his butt at Mario Kart," Aspen said.

"You're just a bully," Clint told her.

"And you're a sore loser." She stuck her tongue out at him, and he threw a piece of popcorn at her head.

"You two are incredibly childish when you get together," Tony said as he and Bruce passed through the room.

"So, up for a couple rounds of Mario Kart?" Aspen asked brightly, turning back to Clint who groaned.

"When does Steve get back? Tell him he needs to entertain his girlfriend because I can only take so much of your pretentious video gaming."

"Pretentious? I'd never played a video game until you got me into them. I'm just a natural talent." She crossed her arms.

Clint coughed. " _Pretentious_." She gave him a shove which her returned. Phoenix leaped off of Clint's lap and went sliding across the table sending Tony's business magazines flying.

Aspen was laughing so hard she didn't hear Steve enter the room just his surprised, "What on earth did I miss?" comment. Aspen disentangled herself from Clint's playful death grip and leapt up. She ran across the room and threw herself at Steve. He picked her off the floor, hugging her tight and spinning her in a circle before setting her back down. Aspen kissed him happily while Clint groaned in the background.

"Get a room, you two," he said.

"We have a room. _You_ can leave any time," Aspen threw over her shoulder. Steve laughed, taking Aspen's hand and leading her back to the couch.

"Hey, Clint," he greeted the archer.

"Your girlfriend is a dirty cheater."

"I am not! It's not even a win lose sort of game! We were _supposed_ to be working together but then you went and got visions of grandeur."

"I'm not even going to ask." Steve left Aspen and Clint to bicker while Phoenix ran over to greet him. He stroked the cat's soft fur as she arched her back into his touch.

"I see I just missed the usual," Steve said.

"I missed you," Aspen told him. "Did you find anything?" Steve and Sam were still looking for Bucky quite actively though they'd turned up nothing solid. Aspen joined them on occasion, but they still hadn't mentioned their side quest to Tony. Clint and Natasha knew, but otherwise Steve and Aspen were keeping it to themselves.

"Nothing. It was all dead ends," Steve said, looking exhausted and discouraged. Aspen squeezed his hand. "Don't give up," she told him. "He's out there somewhere."

"Barney hasn't heard anything," Clint said. Clint's brother had been helping with the search too. He had a lot of connections on both sides of the law, but so far all he'd turned up were rumors. The Winter Soldier truly was a ghost story to most of the world.

"So Tony's throwing a party tonight FYI," Aspen said after a short silence.

"Another one?" Steve asked, sounding exasperated. Tony always seemed to be finding excuses to hold parties. Steve and Aspen didn't always go, but tonight Tony had requested their presence.

"Yeah, it has to do with his whole clean energy company. He's hoping to get new investors in on one of Pepper's projects. He thinks your presence there might be encouraging. He may have also mentioned your days selling war bonds. Did I tell you he bought one of your old posters on Ebay? He hung it in his office."

"As long as he doesn't ask me to sing that song," Steve said.

"What song?" Clint asked, grinning. "Captain America _sings_?"

"No!" Steve said. "It's nothing, just a song the girls used to sing during our routine selling bonds."

"YouTube it," Aspen told Clint seriously. "There are some old reels of it out there still."

"Please don't," Steve said, closing his eyes for a moment as if trying to push the song out of his head.

"Oh I think that is too good of a chance to pass up." Clint stood. "I'll let you two get reacquainted while I go grab my laptop."

"Thanks," Steve said, giving Aspen a disdainful look. She just smiled knowing he was joking.

"What? You were adorable in that uniform. The reels might be in black and white but I've seen you in uniform before." Tony had helped design a new uniform for Steve that brought back the traditional red, white, and blue. Tony had also been twisting her arm for the last six months trying to convince her to let him build her a suit. She'd been mortified at the thought. _I'm not wearing anything tight or anything that makes me look like a puffed up wanna-be!_ she'd told him emphatically. _Are you saying my suit makes me look fat?_ he'd responded, looking affronted. _What, you don't trust me?_ Aspen had finally agreed to let him design new dart guns and a new utility belt, but she was sticking to the SHIELD clothes she still had. They were practical and nondescript. She had allowed Tony to alter the SHIELD symbol on the shoulder to the Avengers A.

"Did Tony ask where I was?" Steve asked, absent-mindedly stroking Phoenix.

"I told him you were visiting Peggy and that you needed some time." It was partially true. Steve had made a point to visit Peggy every time he was in DC. Aspen had come a few times too though Peggy sometimes forgot who she was. One minute she'd be talking to her like old friends, the next she'd ask who Steve's lovely friend was. It was heartbreaking, but Aspen took on that burden so that Steve didn't have to alone.

"Tony's guests arrive in an hour. We'd better go make ourselves acceptable," Aspen said. She scooped up Phoenix and carried the cat under one arm. Steve followed, pressing the button for their floor.

"I bought a new dress for the party," Aspen told Steve when they entered their floor. She set Phoenix on the floor and let the cat rush off to watch pigeons, the bell on her new collar jingling. "Pepper took me shopping downtown and used Tony's card for it so I didn't feel so bad looking at the price tag."

Tony had sort of taken Aspen in under his wing and spoiled her rotten like an adopted child. When he heard about her shared love of Audis and her totaled one he immediately bought her a brand new Audi with a price tag she didn't even want to look up. He'd given her a credit card and insisted she update her wardrobe of worn clothes that she'd had since high school. She had an image to maintain, he told her, patting down the collar of his expensive suit at his last party. Aspen didn't mind. She'd never had money to spend freely before so she had taken Natasha out shopping, letting the redheaded Avenger pick out several more daring outfits for Aspen to try. Natasha had become the best girl friend Aspen hadn't ever had before. In high school she'd kept to herself so she'd never had anyone to talk to about girly things or boys. Of course neither she or Natasha were excessively girly, but Aspen still took advantage of having someone around who didn't mind a trip to the hair salon or indulging in a little retail therapy. Natasha seemed to have opened up considerably. Instead of being so distant she was warm around Aspen. She loved giving the younger girl advice, and Aspen found herself trying to mirror the former assassin's grace and confidence. Natasha never had a problem putting the other Avengers in their place and always had the better comeback when playfully arguing with Clint.

When she was around, Pepper took Aspen under her wing. It was almost like having a second mother, and Tony had even jokingly told Aspen he and Pepper were thinking about adopting her. _But I'm not an orphan_ , she'd said, giving Tony a confused look. _Not gonna work,_ he'd said to Pepper. _How does Steve feel about the adoption system?_

Lucy Hill had been a constant friend to Aspen and always looked to her for advice. It was like having a younger sister, and Aspen was always flattered that Lucy came to her first when she needed help. She'd helped the girl through breaking up with Noah and the subsequent getting back together and was helping train her to become a possible future Avenger. Lucy had improved considerably under Aspen's tutelage, and Aspen found she really enjoyed training her.

In her own training, Aspen had pushed herself harder than ever. She trained with all her teammates. Steve had been helping her learn to box and they fought daily every morning. He always went easy on her, but it was still a good workout and she was always exhausted afterwards. Clint was helping her improve her shooting skills and teaching her to use a bow for more than just recreational shooting. Natasha was training her to fight using techniques Aspen had never even heard of. She could see the difference on missions. She found herself relying more on her natural abilities than her powers, but so far they hadn't faced anything more dangerous than a few rogue Hydra bases. Ever since they'd learned that Strucker had Loki's scepter, they'd been trying to track it down. So far they'd had no success, but they were working on taking Hydra down one base at a time.

At first they'd been a bit shaky as a team. Thor was likely to go in full throttle, hammer swinging while Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Aspen preferred a more stealthy approach. Tony was apt to try to call all the shots and nearly came to blows with Steve more than once on a disagreement over leading the team. Aspen couldn't say who was in charge. She preferred to stay out of those arguments. Bruce was learning to control the Hulk a little more though they tried not to put him in situations where he needed to change. Natasha had started using a method called the "lullaby" to calm him down. For whatever reason the Hulk seemed to respond to her gentle touch and voice. Aspen was still nervous around the great green creature, but she'd become quite fond of Bruce who was soft-spoken and sweet. Though she hadn't gotten close to him, they were on friendly terms and sometimes collaborated on projects when Aspen wanted to hone her science skills. Everything he did was way over her head but he was always willing to patiently explain how things worked. She spent a lot of time in his lab when Tony and Steve were arguing because she found it calming. Bruce always had on some classical music and offered her herbal tea. They were both happier when the team was getting along. Clint called them the pacifists of the group because they both actively avoided conflict and tended to get along with everyone. (Present company excluded, Aspen always reminded him with a smirk.)

When Clint had showed up at the tower several months after Steve and Aspen had moved in, Aspen expected him to live there all the time, but Clint was gone for months at a time. He never told her where he went, just that he had other things to do. No one else questioned it, and Natasha told her just to let him have his time away. Aspen could tell Natasha knew exactly where Clint was, but she respected both of them too much to insist they told her even if it hurt a little that he wouldn't tell her. When he was at the tower, he spent as much time as he could with Aspen. He'd introduced her to video games, and they spent most their time outside of missions in the lounge area duking it out much to everyone else's amusement. Natasha sometimes joined them, but Tony had better things to do, video games stressed out Bruce too much, and Steve tended to stare at the game controllers like they might electrocute him.

Thor had intimidated Aspen at first, but the more she'd gotten to know the Asgardian demi-god, the more she'd grown to love him. He was jovial and big-hearted and had an amusing lack of knowledge of modern slang. He tended to use the wrong words which set Aspen into fits of laughter. _Ah, yes, these automobiles are what you would call cold, yes?_ he'd said of Tony's car collection. The one downside of spending a lot of time around Thor was that he reminded her of Loki. Sometimes Aspen thought she should tell Thor that Loki had taken over the throne of Asgard and done who knew what with their father, but every time she almost did, she though of Loki wanting a chance to rule the kingdom he loved. The words always died on her tongue. This was a secret she had to keep to herself along with her view that Loki _would_ make a good king if given the chance. He wasn't a villain; he simply cared too much and felt too deeply. Of course she'd never condoned the way he got what he wanted, but she didn't want to get in the middle of this when Thor eventually did find out.

It was the safest and most _belonging_ place Aspen had ever been. Everyday she woke up looking forward to interacting with her team and every time they went on a mission she was given the satisfaction of saving lives.

"So is this a suit and tie sort of party or a slacks and button up?" Steve asked Aspen as she pulled her dress out of the garment bag.

"Slacks and button up. Tony can dress as fancily as he wants. I'm not going to force you into a suit." She pulled the dress from the bag. It was a silky fabric the color of sapphires with black flowers in the foreground. It had an old-fashioned cut with a high waistline and a skater-style skirt. There was a line of buttons on the back. Pepper had picked out a necklace and earrings to match it.

"You'll be the most beautiful girl there tonight. Tony doesn't need me there to get investors," Steve told her, his eyes brightening at the sight of the dress.

"Ha. I'm not showing off for creepy old men," she said. "I had a more specific audience in mind."

"Oh? Who did you have in mind?" he asked, a smile spreading across his lips. She simply smiled at him, pulling off her T-shirt and jeans and sliding the dress on over her head.

"Button me?" she asked, turning her back to him and pulling her hair off her shoulders. She'd had it trimmed recently so it hung in silky strands just past her shoulders. Natasha was sporting a shorter style now, and Aspen had found long hair always got in the way when she was training or fighting.

She felt Steve's fingers on her bare back as he worked the buttons into the fabric eyes. His lips brushed her neck and then his hands were on her waist as he pulled her into him. Closing her eyes, she breathed in his familiar scent. Her heart beat out a quicker tempo as it always did when he was close. Even though she was used to his touch, she never stopped marveling that she was the one he had chosen. He was always telling her that she had chosen him, that he had been hers since the day they'd met.

"We're still early," Steve told her, brushing his lips against her ear. "And I haven't seen you for a few days."

Aspen smiled. "I must say Phoenix doesn't kiss as well as you. Her tongue is rather rough."

Steve spun her gently around so that she was facing him. His eyes took in the dress, and she felt her face warm under his gaze. "That dress suits you," he said. "Tony's stocks will be tripling tonight."

"I am _not_ Tony's trophy daughter," she said.

"Has he been talking about adopting you again?" Steve asked, laughing.

"Last I heard he was thinking about adopting _you_ since technically you are the orphan."

"Yeah, that's never gonna happen."

"I told him as much. Sometimes I feel like as the youngest Avenger, he worries way too much over me."

"I think we all do. Thor was practically panicking when you got hurt on our last mission. He insisted on carrying you to the Quinjet," Steve told her.

"How embarrassing. There is such a thing as over-coddling."

"I know better than to coddle you. They don't yet. I don't doubt that you will let them know when that day comes."

"I'm more concerned about the next few minutes. Let's talk about that," Aspen said, running her hands up his chest.

"Let's not talk," Steve said, bringing his lips down on hers. She pressed herself into him, standing on tiptoe to fully reach his lips. His hands were gentle on her back, but the kiss was anything but gentle. It was moments like this that gave Aspen everything she needed and still not enough. Heat rushed up between them, and Aspen wished they'd forget about the party and stay here for the rest of the night. Steve seemed to be thinking he same thing because he groaned when they broke apart for air. "Are you sure we have to go to this party?" he asked, his forehead pressed against hers. His eyelashes brushed hers.

"Tony might come looking for us if we don't show up."

Steve pressed a kiss to her lips. "That could be awkward."

"Mmhm. Maybe you should get changed." She was distracted a moment later as he kissed her jaw. She was starting to think they should just ignore Tony and his damned party when Steve pulled away again. "I could help," she said slowly, tugging at the hem of his shirt. She pulled it over his head and ran her hands down his back.

"I'm not sure this is going in the right direction," he said, his voice husky as he brushed his lips against her ear.

"Hmm, I'm happy with the way this is going." She kissed the skin over his heart which was beating wildly.

"I never said I wasn't _happy_ , I'm just not sure this is going to get us to the party."

"Did I say we needed to go?" Aspen asked. "I'd forgotten already."

"Excuse me, Captain Rogers and Miss Tolvar, but Tony has asked me to remind you both about his party which will be starting in twenty minutes," Jarvis's voice interrupted.

Steve groaned, and Aspen stifled her laughter against his chest. "So much for the moment we were having," she said, looking up at him.

"Who said it was over? We've got twenty minutes. It's not like we have to be there early." Steve grabbed her waist, picking her up and setting her on the dresser so that she was level with him. One hand brushed her knee while the other cradled the back of her neck. Aspen ran her fingers through his soft, thick hair. His hand was on her thigh now, the gentlest touch just above the hem of her dress. She groaned against his lips.

"I'm not going to be able to leave this room if we continue this," she said. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was very much aware that she was about to cross some boundary and throw out any traditions or past decisions. "You have no idea what you do to me."

"You have no idea what _you_ do to _me_ ," Steve countered, but he pulled away. Aspen wanted to pull him back, but she let him pull on a button up shirt and a pair of slacks. She did however unabashedly keep her eyes on him, smirking at the pink that tinged his ears. They hadn't really discussed their boundaries lately, but there was certainly the unspoken one. Steve came from a time when the respectable girl and the honorable man went on dates until marriage and then, well, you got the picture. Aspen wasn't really sure where Steve stood on that matter. He was traditional about a lot of things, and she loved that about him. In a world rushing to get everything done as fast as possible, he liked to take things slowly and fully appreciate the journey. His respect for Aspen had never wavered. And because she respected him too, she'd never pushed him out of his comfort zone. Sometimes it was hard though, keeping that little bit of distance. She knew he'd never make the first move, but she didn't want to push him.

"Ready?" Steve asked. She blinked. He was fully dressed, hair neatly in place as if they hadn't just been passionately kissing on the dresser. Aspen jumped down.

"Give me a minute." She freshened her makeup and did her hair in a neat bun. After brushing any wrinkles out of her dress, she added the final touch of the necklace and earrings. She took Steve's proffered arm and they headed to the party together.

"You look very beautiful," Steve told her while they waited for the elevator to reach the right floor. "That color looks really good on you."

"You look pretty dapper yourself tie or no tie," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

The party was already somehow in full swing when Aspen and Steve arrived. There was a variety of guests who looked over at Aspen and Steve with rapt curiosity. Tony came over to them looking completely in his element. "Before you both glue yourselves to the wall, let me introduce you to a couple of people," he said, taking Aspen by the arm and dragging them like a chain after him. Aspen rolled her eyes back at Steve.

Tony halted them in front of a rich looking couple. The woman was practically dripping in pearls and her wedding ring looked like it could have fed a third world country. She hung off of her husband's arm like an accessory while he stood rigidly in his perfectly fitted suit. Both were probably in their late forties, but the eyes the woman made at Steve turned his neck and ears bright pink. He shuffled his feet uncomfortably while Tony made the introductions.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cavendish, meet Steve Rogers and Aspen Tolvar."

"A real pleasure," Mr. Cavendish said, holding out a beefy hand to Steve. He ignored Aspen altogether. She gave Tony a look, and he cleared his throat.

"The Cavendishes have been _very_ generous with the foundation," Tony emphasized, giving Aspen a pointed look. She hated dealing with people like this but she plastered a smile on her face anyway.

"We just _adore_ Pepper," Mrs. Cavendish put in.

"Ah, yes, Miss Potts is just over there. I'll be sure to send her over your way," Tony promised before pushing Steve and Aspen toward the next group of guests.

"Excuse us," Steve said for Tony. He looked more than happy to escape Mrs. Cavendish's roaming eyes.

"Ah, Mr. Stark, is this _the_ star spangled man with a plan?"

Steve froze, and Aspen had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter. She cleared her throat as the four suited men turned to look at Steve. Tony seemed to be enjoying himself as he replied, "It is indeed." He gave Steve a small push on the back so he wouldn't be lingering on the outside of the group. Aspen gave Tony a scolding look before taking her place at Steve's side.

"And I'm the girl with no stars and no plans," she introduced, holding out her hand. The men gave her a confused smile before shaking her hand.

"I'll leave you to chat," Tony said, moving off before Steve or Aspen could protest.

Steve sighed quietly. "Are you enjoying yourselves?" he asked politely.

"Mr. Stark certainly knows how to throw a party," one of the men said. Aspen decided to call him Purple Tie. She wasn't particularly concerned about what business they worked for or why they were here. As they droned on about 'Mr. Stark this' and 'Mr. Stark that,' her attention diverted to the food table on the other side of the room. There was a rack of cupcakes that looked especially enticing.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," she said when there was a lull in the conversation. Steve gave her a frantic look and she nodded her head toward the food table before leaving him. He'd have to disentangle himself from the boring droning of the businessmen himself. She had her eye on the prize. Half the reason she let Tony drag her to these shindigs was the food. He didn't go halfway with the buffet.

Aspen was nearly to the table when a man stepped into her path. She made to move around him, but he stuck out an arm to stop her. She looked up at him, readying her best glower, but it was just another one of Tony's clients so she rearranged her features.

"Aren't you the girl with the mental abilities?" he asked with no introduction.

"That depends on who's asking," she said flatly. Since SHIELD's files had gone online, she'd been recognized several times, but fortunately people usually looked straight past her. They didn't expect someone so young to be so powerful. She didn't _look_ like an Avenger. It made things easier when she wanted to escape the Tower.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the man said, not sounding sorry at all. "I'm Julian Everhart." He didn't offer a hand, and Aspen thought he was quite rude. She nearly told him so, but then she caught sight of Tony giving her a look as if reading her thoughts.

"And are you an investor in Mr. Stark's project?" she asked.

"I'd like to think of myself as an investor in the _unusual_ ," he said, eyes watching her too keenly. " _You_ are unusual."

Aspen bristled. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?" she asked, keeping her tone even.

"It should be," he said. "In the world of science, you-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Aspen said. She didn't care if he had invested all the gold in the world in Tony's project; this conversation was ending now. "I don't really like hearing the world 'science' and 'you' in the same sentence. I'm not an experiment Mr. Everhart. I'm a human being, and I like to be treated as such."

"Of course, I didn't mean…" Julian's calm demeanor slipped for a moment as he scrambled to apologize.

"Is there a problem here?" Suddenly Steve was at Aspen's side. Julian seemed to shrink.

"Mr. Everhart here was just complimenting the party," Aspen said. "But I think the conversation was _over_." She gave the man a pointed look and walked around him. This time he didn't dare try to stop her. She stomped over to the food table, Steve trailing behind her.

"Did he say something to you?" he asked.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," she said, feeling irritable all of a sudden. Steve was quiet, and she felt bad for snapping. "It did help when you came along," she added. "He was just being a jerk." Steve's jaw worked, but before he could do anything, Aspen shoved a cupcake into his hand. "Quick eat this before they're all gone." She stuffed one into her mouth, savoring the chocolate frosting. "God, these are good," she said through a mouth full of cupcake. One of the ladies standing nearby gave her a disgusted look and moved away. Aspen snagged another cupcake from the table.

"If you're trying to scare Tony's clients away from you, you're doing a really good job," Steve told her.

"Good." They moved away from the food table and toward the wall. Tony scowled in their direction, but they ignored him, eating their cupcakes in silence.

"These people kind of make me want to throw up," Aspen said as she watched the guests rove around. "They're dripping in diamonds and wearing thousand dollar suits with no idea of what actually goes on out there in that world. They haven't seen the things we have. They're just so comfortable with their wealth and their comfort. Don't ever let me become one of those people."

"I don't think that's going to be an issue," Steve said. "For one, notice none of the women are eating anything but the carrot sticks and celery from the food table. Secondly, half of them look as if they've gotten some sort of facial surgery within the last few months. That woman over there can't even change the expression on her face."

Aspen snorted. "You sound like Clint," she said.

Steve smiled. "I was trying to cheer you up."

"Well you don't sound like yourself, so stop," she told him, returning the smile. "Steve Rogers it too polite to comment on a lady's frozen facial expression."

"Oh but tonight I'm 'the star spangled man with a plan' and 'Iron Man's sidekick'."

"Ouch. That last one has to hurt," Aspen said, wincing.

"I'm bearing it okay."

"Ugh, is it over yet?" Aspen checked the clock on the wall, but it had hardly been thirty minutes. "I'm going to go find a bathroom and spend like five hours in there. Maybe this nightmare will be over when I get back."

"You're going to abandon me to the bored housewives?" Steve asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"You'll be fine, honey," Aspen said, patting his arm. "Just stay on the wall and blend in. I'll be back." She moved away from him, crossing the room and heading down the hall toward the bathroom. Before she got too far, someone stepped in her path for the second time.

Julian Everhart was persistent; she would give him that. There was something dangerous about his gaunt face and dark eyes set behind thick, black-rimmed glasses. He couldn't have been much older than her, but he clearly thought he was someone of importance if he was interrupting her for a second time that night.

"You're in my way." This time she didn't bother with pleasantries.

"We didn't get to finish our conversation earlier," he said, moving to block her as she tried to walk around him.

"Oh, I think we did," Aspen said. "I would recommend you move. I'm not always in the best of moods at these parties, so I really wouldn't test me if I were you."

"Oh but that's exactly what I want to do," he said, leaning closer.

Something told Aspen that she shouldn't engage. She should just turn around and walk away. Something else wouldn't let her though. "Fine, you want to test me?" she asked, letting her powers flare up. "If you don't get out of my way, I will _make_ you," she hissed.

Instead of backing away or looking remotely worried, Julian smiled. "I look forward to seeing you try."


	3. The Elite

**Author's Note:** Thank you for the favorites, follows, and reviews! You guys are awesome! I'm going to try to keep posting a chapter a week at least until I finish writing part one. Then I might post a little more often. Part one is turning out to be really long which is awesome. I didn't really mean to correlate the plot with Agents of SHIELD season 3, but it's kind of turning out that way a little. Similar themes. I'm not going to bring Agents into the story though. Too much to keep track of. If you guys haven't watched Jessica Jones on Netflix, you totally should. It is SO good! So raw and powerful and bold. They don't skim over real and dark themes, which I really respect. Amazing actors too.

Anyway, enjoy reading! Thanks again!

* * *

 **2 – The Elite – January 21, 2015**

Aspen let her powers vibrate along her fingertips as Julian smiled at her. Then she shoved him without her fingers making contact. He staggered back a few steps, his smile still in place. "That's the best you can do?" he asked.

"I don't make a habit of hurting people with my powers," Aspen said.

"Sometimes you don't have that luxury."

"What do you mean?" Aspen took a step back from him.

"Don't tell me you've never liked the feeling of using your powers against someone who wants to hurt you," Julian said, taking a step forward.

"Who _are_ you?" Aspen asked. He had her cornered against the wall now. She readied herself, but a moment later he leaned against the wall next to her.

"I know you've wondered if you're the only one like you," he said.

"My parents' serum has only been used on one person who's still alive and that's me," Aspen said.

"I'm not talking about their serum." Something flashed in his hand, and Aspen started. Flames danced along the palm of his hand. The fire didn't burn his skin, and he remained quite calm as it licked his skin. "You didn't let me finish earlier. I was going to say, in the world of science, you might be considered an experiment, but in _my_ world you'd be considered elite. Some come by their abilities naturally, but then there are those of us who are escapees from a scientific world that simply wants to study us. We're the survivors. You think your team really considers you an asset? They think your abilities make you powerful enough to be part of the team – they're _using_ you."

"That's not true," Aspen protested.

"Why do you think Tony Stark parades you around his parties trying to attract investors? You're a novelty. Everyone wants to come to see a glimpse of the girl with mental powers."

"Half of them have no idea who I am," Aspen said.

"Those who recognize you keep it to themselves," Julian said. "They're secretly afraid of you."

"You didn't," she snapped. "And why would they be afraid of me?" But she already knew the answer to that. People were afraid of what they couldn't understand.

"I needed to talk to you." He flicked his hand and the flames died.

"About what?"

"About joining us. We call ourselves the Elite. We're the rejects of the world who dream of something better."

"I already have a team, thank you," Aspen said, stepping back. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think this conversation is over."

"You might regret turning me down," Julian called after her. This time he didn't try to follow.

"Is that a threat?" she asked, turning back to look at him.

Julian just smiled at her. "You'll change your mind," he said.

"I don't think so." Aspen hurried back to the party, finding Steve, still against the wall, and dragging at his sleeve. "I want to go," she said firmly.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I have a really bad headache suddenly," she told him. "The lights and the music aren't helping."

"Okay, let's go," Steve said. They wove their way through the crowd, avoiding Tony and getting into the elevator. As soon as the doors shut, Aspen leaned against the wall with a sigh of relief. "Are you sure it's just a headache?" Steve asked. "You look shaken."

"That man you saved me from earlier – Julian Everhart – he approached me again." Steve clenched his jaw. Aspen was glad the elevator was moving because Steve looked as if he wanted to go back down to the party and find Julian. "He made me an offer to join his team. They're called the Elite. I guess they have abilities like me. Some come by them naturally and others were injected with something – the 'escapees from the scientific world' he called them. He tried to tell me my teammates are using me, but I know that isn't true. He just doesn't understand that I'm already with people who understand me."

"How did he get invited anyway?" Steve asked.

"I don't know."

"Did he have an ability?" Steve asked as the elevator stopped on their floor.

"Fire," Aspen said. "He can create fire."

"That sounds dangerous. Is he a threat?" Steve asked as they entered their apartment.

"I'm not sure yet," Aspen replied truthfully. "I don't think he had any intention of harming me. He wanted to see what I could do. Honestly I just think _he_ thinks his team would be better for someone like me."

"Then he forgets that you're not the only one on the team to ever been injected with a serum," Steve said.

"Anyway, he's gone, I'm sure. I don't think he'll be a problem." Aspen kicked off her heels and sat down on the couch, putting her feet up.

"I'll ask Tony if he knows anything more about him tomorrow," Steve told her. "And tell him to screen his guests a little better next time."

Aspen was quiet for a moment. Steve sat across from her, watching her with concerned eyes. "Am I really an asset to this team?" Aspen asked finally, looking up at him.

"Aspen, don't ever think you aren't," Steve said, looking sad. "Don't let that guy put thoughts into your head."

"It's just that I'm the youngest, and Tony and Thor do try to protect me a lot. I haven't seen much action on our missions so far."

"They'll learn sooner or later that you don't need that much protection," Steve said. "But they'll never stop _wanting_ to protect you. It isn't about their lack of belief in your abilities. It's because they care about you. They like doting on you."

"It's stifling sometimes, but I do appreciate it. I guess I'm not used to all this affection and protection around me. It's either been just me or just Clint and me or just you and me. Never a whole group of people who actually genuinely care about me."

"We're all still getting used to it," Steve said. "This is a team with a lot of different personalities and views living in one building. There will always be issues and there will always be moments when we don't all see eye to eye, but this team also works because we're so different. We each bring something different to the team and we value each other. For the first time since the Avengers formed, I really feel like we're a team."

"We do work together well," Aspen agreed. "A lot better than we did at first."

Steve laughed softly. "Yeah. I wasn't sure half the time if I was battling my own team or the Chitauri."

"A little of both, I think. Do you think Tony noticed we skipped out on his party?"

"You know, I don't really care," Steve said.

"Me neither." They smiled conspiratorially at each other.

…

"Tony has never heard of a Julian Everhart," Steve told Aspen as he joined her for breakfast the following morning. "And yes, he did notice we left. After I told him about Everhart, he forgot about it though. He hasn't heard of the Elite either. Of course he shoved it aside as an amateur and wanted me to tell you how valuable you are to this team."

"I don't think he's a threat, not to us. He was just trying to recruit me. I doubt I'll ever see him again."

Steve didn't look so sure. He set a newspaper down in front of her. The headline read: **Five Dead in Bank Heist Gone Wrong**.

 _At midnight last night, Federal Reserve Bank was broken into and a heist was attempted. The security guards on duty were incapacitated and the vault was breached but a strange turn of events left four of the burglars and one security guard dead. Several witnesses saw masked men and women enter the building shortly after the burglars entered. Gunshots were heard and the masked group was seen exiting the building before police arrived on the scene. No security footage was recovered from the scene after the masked group arrived. Bank security reported that all cameras had been shorted out.  
It is not yet known who fired the shots and while the masked group remains anonymous, the question remains: heroes or villains? _

Aspen looked up at Steve. "What's this?" she asked.

"Read further," was all he said.

 _Three of the burglars had significant burn marks on their bodies but no fire damage was found in the building._

"Burn marks," Steve said. "Vigilantes."

"You're alluding to Julian," Aspen realized. "You really think he and his group did this?" She lifted an eyebrow. It seemed a little far-fetched.

"Just a thought."

"I'm not sure he's the type to get his hands dirty like this. What would be his motive?"

Steve shrugged. "Does he need one? If he calls his group the 'Elite' then maybe they're trying to make a reputation for themselves. Prove their not just scientific experiments."

"He said some of them came by their abilities naturally."

"Doesn't mean they don't have something to prove."

"Is that how the world sees me?" Aspen asked, pushing her bowl of cereal aside. "Some weird vigilante?"

Steve's eyes widened. "Of course not. You aren't like them."

"Aren't I?"

"No," he said firmly. "You don't kill when it's not necessary. One of the security guards ended up dead too. You always do everything within your power to save everyone."

"Are we going to do something about this?" Aspen asked, getting up to rinse her dish in the sink. Phoenix jumped onto the counter and claimed the last of the milk and cereal before she could do so.

"Tony's looking into it. This might not be the first time they've acted."

"Okay, sounds reasonable."

"Something's still bothering you," Steve pressed.

"If they're vigilantes, solving crime and taking down the bad guys then what does that make us?" she asked. "How are we any different?"

Steve furrowed his brow. "We don't just kill people," he said.

"The burglars might have killed the security guard. They might have been planning to kill the others. Maybe it was necessary."

"Why are you defending them?" he asked.

"I'm not. I just don't see why you're jumping to conclusions when we have no evidence to back up your theory that this Elite group was behind it. And don't say we don't leave behind messes and bodies because we have before. We're not perfect."

"Maybe you're sympathizing with them because you know what it feels like," Steve suggested.

"Like _what_ feels like?" Aspen asked, firing up. "Being an experiment? Being a science freak?"

"You know that isn't what I meant," he softened his tone, looking imploringly at her. "I'm just as much a product of science as your abilities are."

"Is that what I am?"

"Aspen-"

"No, it's fine," she said, tossing her bowl in the sink. "If you need me or my scientific abilities, I'll be on the roof." She grabbed her phone and headed toward the elevator without looking back. She didn't know why she was so upset. She knew Steve would never call her an experiment. She knew she should turn around and apologize, but right now she just wanted to be alone.

She loved being on a team, loved working with the people she'd come to call friends, but it also came with a lot of pressure. Aspen constantly felt the need to be her best and some days she just didn't feel like a hero. When she had Thor and Tony Stark and Captain America to live up to, she often felt substandard. Maybe Julian's words had gotten to her more than she'd thought. The team didn't _really_ need her when it came down to it. She was just the girlfriend of one of the members. She cursed herself as she walked out onto the roof. She was being selfish and childish. None of them were on the team to compete. They were here to save people. When had she lost sight of that and turned it into some silly competition?

 _Why do you think Tony Stark parades you around his parties trying to attract investors? You're a novelty. Everyone wants to come to see a glimpse of the girl with mental powers._

Sometimes Aspen hated the fact that her anonymity had gone out the window when SHIELD had fallen. She was used to being invisible, but now whoever cared to pay attention knew just who she was and what she could do. She wasn't sure everyone would believe it. Maybe everyone had forgotten she existed again. She'd rather it be that way. She was tired of people using her for her powers. But that wasn't why she was an Avenger. She'd been an Avenger long before she'd gotten her abilities.

 _You don't need that serum to save lives_ , Steve had told her multiple times. She'd survived the Battle of New York just fine with her own natural skills. The world wasn't a fair place. Not everyone was equally equipped to handle the bad parts. All Aspen knew was that she was in the best place – on the best _team_ – to handle the bad in the world. She sighed, looking down at her phone. A picture of her and Steve smiled up at her, and she felt terrible for how she'd spoken to him.

A text message appeared on the screen a moment later, and she poked her finger at the screen to read it. It was from Clint.

 _What did you do to Steve? He looks like his pet dog got run over by a car and everyone forgot his birthday. You'd better make things right because I can't stand the sad puppy-eyed look he's giving everyone._

Aspen sighed. _Coming with my tail between my legs_ , she responded to Clint's message.

…

Steve looked up when Aspen entered the room where he and the other Avengers were meeting to discuss the recent events at the bank. He'd shared his theory with them and Tony had looked further into the group called the Elite. They'd found scattered incidents that seemed to bear similarities, but nothing to indicate Julian Everhart or whatever his name was had anything to do with it.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Aspen asked. Steve nodded, following her out of the room. Aspen leaned against the wall in the hallway, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I am so sorry for going off on you this morning," she said. "I guess Julian's words upset me more than I realized, but that is no excuse to act the way I did toward you. I know you'd never imply that I'm a scientific experiment. You are the sweetest person alive, and I feel like the most horrible person alive for making you feel bad."

Steve's softened his gaze and took her hand. "I know you didn't mean it," he said. "It's okay. I should have backed off when I saw how upset you were."

"I love you," she said, leaning up to kiss him lightly. "You are so patient with me."

"Well, love makes you do crazy things," he said, smiling down at her. "You don't have to sit in on the meeting. We're looking into the Elite to see if we can find any connections. We just want to look into this. I don't want him approaching you alone again."

"I want to sit in," she told him. "I talked to him, so I can give the most information about him."

"Okay."

They reentered the room together, Clint throwing Aspen a thumbs up. "Nice of you to join us," Tony said a little sharper than necessary. He was still sore that Aspen and Steve had left his party early. Steve had pointedly reminded him that he'd been the one to let Julian Everhart in. "Sorry about the breach in security last night," Tony added when Steve sent him a glare.

"What do we know about our man?" Aspen asked, sitting down across from Tony.

"We know Julian Everhart is a false name," Tony said. He sent an image from his tablet up onto the wall. An image of the man Steve had seen last night though he looked slightly younger.

He read the name under the photo. "Julian Grey? Is that his real name?" he asked, looking over at Tony.

"That's him," Aspen said, looking at the photo. It was a mug shot but not for a penitentiary but an A.I.M. lab. He didn't look much older than Aspen with unruly dark hair and black, plastic framed glasses.

"He was a test subject at an A.I.M. facility."

"Voluntary?" Aspen asked. There was a hitch in her voice, and Steve knew she was thinking about being injected with her parents' serum.

"Yes, actually. He signed up for it."

"They probably lied about what it was they were doing," Aspen said. "Who tested on him?"

"A professor Peter Stewart."

Steve watched Aspen's reaction, but she stayed collected. "Figures," she said. "He was a monster."

"Grey has pyrokinetic abilities. He can create and manipulate fire. He burned down his girlfriend's house killing her and her parents in 2008. After that he disappeared from the scene and presumably was approached by Peter Stewart. He escaped the lab after Stewart started experimenting on him. He was last seen in New York working with a woman named Amber Zhan." Tony reached across the table to swipe a finger over the tablet. A new picture appeared, this one of a pretty, dark-skinned girl with intensely tawny eyes. "She has the ability to control electricity. Very dangerous. As far as SHIELD knew she was a natural born."

"She was on SHIELD's radar? Did she ever use her powers to hurt anyone?" Aspen asked.

"She killed her boyfriend, but it was an accident apparently," Tony said.

"I'm seeing a theme here," Clint threw in.

"Learning to use abilities is difficult," Aspen told him.

"I know that, Pen," he said. "I'm sure she was just scared."

"She was registered on the SHIELD index," Tony continued, "but only monitored after the incident, not taken into custody."

"What's the SHIELD index?" Aspen asked. Steve hadn't heard of it either though it seemed like something Fury might have mentioned during their time at SHIELD.

"It's a list of people with superhuman abilities," Natasha answered. Aspen and Steve turned to look at her. "SHIELD didn't have many names – it's hard to track people who don't want to be found, but they had some."

"Was I on the list?" Aspen asked.

"You were listed as a potential, but Fury kept you off of it. You too," she added to Steve. "He didn't like the idea of categorizing people."

"It sounds so…dehumanizing," Aspen said with a shudder. "I didn't even know it existed."

"Do you know who else was on the list?" Steve asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Not off the top of my head, but I could find out. I do know they categorized it by gifted – those who came by their abilities naturally – and enhanced – those who were injected or exposed to something that changed them. It also kept record of objects that were categorized under the supernatural."

"So the prevailing theory is these kids who have abilities either natural or enhanced have formed a group and are trying to fight crime now?" Bruce spoke up from the other end of the table.

"But they're running around with no idea of what they're doing," Tony added. "They're in way over their heads. I've found several incidents that all involved an unknown group. In every incident someone ended up hurt or killed."

"Have your local law protectors ever caught any of these miscreants?" Thor asked, leaning forward.

"Nope. They're always out before the police arrive." Tony turned his eyes on Aspen. "He offered you a spot on his team, right?"

"Yes, he seemed to think I'd have some interest in it. I told him he was wrong."

"Well you're going to change your mind and do some undercover work," Tony told her.

"Oh no."

"You're in the perfect position to spy!" Tony insisted.

"If she doesn't want to do it, she doesn't have to," Steve spoke up for Aspen, locking eyes with Tony. Tony looked frustrated at the interruption.

"Let her speak for herself," he said, holding Steve's gaze.

"Okay, okay!" Aspen said, putting a hand on Steve's arm. "Calm down." She turned to look at Tony. "Say I do infiltrate this 'Elite.' What is my objective?" she asked. Steve worked his jaw, but didn't speak. This was her decision to make, not his.

"Find out what their motive is," Tony told her. "Are they trying to save lives or do they not care who gets caught in the crossfire? Are they vigilantes trying to copy the Avengers or are they just kids with powers who like to test them?"

"How would I get in touch with him?" Aspen asked.

"Oh, I think he'll find you. Instead of taking him off my guest list, I'll put him on the VIP list."

"Fine," Aspen said after a pause. "I'll do it."


	4. Science vs Morals

**3 – Science vs. Morals – January 22, 2015**

"You don't have to do this," Steve said the second they left the meeting room.

Aspen had known that response was coming. Once she might have been annoyed at his overprotectiveness, but she knew he was just doing his job as a loyal boyfriend. "I want to do this," she told him. "We need to figure out if these people are a threat or a help. Who better than me to infiltrate their team?" She waited for the counterargument.

"It sounds like you made your sentiments toward his proposal pretty clear last night," Steve said, brow furrowed as he walked beside her.

"People change their minds. No one wants to hear that their team is using them. Anyway, if they were serious about wanting me to join them then they'd give me a chance to see if their team is right for me. Maybe I was wrong about not seeing him again."

"So what, you join their team and then come straight back to us and report on everything you've learned? Won't they suspect something?" They started down the stairs that led to the lounge area.

"Of course they will. It will require some acting on my part, but I think I can convince them if I pretend I'm having insecurities about the Avengers. If they're legitimately trying to help people then they shouldn't have anything to hide."

"If there's one thing I've learned in this line of work, it's that everyone has something to hide," Steve said.

"I guess we'll see. Luckily for us, I can sense if someone is hiding something."

"How far are you willing to go to get the truth?" She met his eyes, and she knew he was thinking about the times she'd used her powers to see into someone's mind.

"I just want to know if they're a threat or not," Aspen told him. "I won't go that far. You know I wouldn't do that."

"I know. Just remember, you don't know what they can do. They might not be a threat but they're dangerous."

"So are we. I'm going to give my mom a call – see if she's heard of anything since she and my dad worked extensively with the Superhero Serum." She left him standing in the lounge, walking out onto the terrace outside. The January morning was cold but she needed the fresh air. She pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number. Her mom answered on the second ring.

"Aspen, I was just thinking about calling, but I wasn't sure if you were on a mission or not."

"No, we got back from the last one a week ago," she told her, leaning against the railing and watching the traffic drive by far below.

"How are things going?" her mom asked her.

"Good. We took down another Hydra base. You'd think we'd have flushed them all out by now, but they keep turning up under rocks like insects."

"That must be especially frustrating for Steve."

"Yeah. He takes it in stride, but I know he'd be glad to see Hydra gone for good. We all would. They cause nothing but chaos and their ideas about the world are so twisted. I suppose there's always going to be a new enemy though. At least we know who we're dealing with."

"How is the team getting along? Are Steve and Tony friends yet?"

Aspen laughed. "They've been doing pretty well actually. I'd go as far as to say they're friends, but I did have to break them apart this morning. They can be like two spitting tomcats sometimes. They've got a lot of respect for each other, but their views on the world can differ drastically as well as their ideas for how they should go about helping it."

"Well, they definitely have different backgrounds and personalities. That could be either good or bad for the team dynamic."

"I think as long as they've got a mediator – that's usually Bruce or me – they're okay. They challenge this group to think differently. Sometimes Tony's ideas work best and sometimes Steve's do. It's just a matter of pushing past their stubbornness and making a decision."

"I'm surprised Thor isn't the one butting heads. He's the warrior after all."

"He's a gentle-giant really," Aspen said with a smile. "He might be a warrior, but he's devoutly loyal to his friends. He usually just thinks Tony and Steve's arguments are petty. We're so much more of a team than we were at the start though. Vast improvement."

"I'm glad. I'm glad you're calling yourself a part of the team finally." Aspen could hear the smile in her mom's voice. "Not everyone can say their daughter is an Avenger, you know."

"I think you get that honor to yourself actually. I hope you don't brag about me to your students."

"I do actually. I just don't mention the Avenger or superpower thing."

"Well that's a relief. I actually called to ask you something." She briefly filled her mom in on Julian Grey and the Elites. "Have you heard of such a group?" she asked.

"Not by that name. I've heard rumors of experimentation. There are always those who study science with no concern for ethics."

"Why would someone volunteer for such a thing?" Aspen asked, repressing a shudder.

"There could be a number of reasons. Money, power, misrepresentation on the scientist's part, or thirst for knowledge. Why did Steve volunteer for the Super Soldier program?"

"Erskine wasn't a monster though. Stewart was."

"Grey might not have known that at the time. Maybe he was desperate to learn more about his abilities or get rid of them. Would you turn down help if you were desperate?"

Aspen's thoughts immediately jumped to Loki. She'd gone to him when she was desperate despite all he'd done. Some might call him monster, but she'd sought his help anyway. "No, I suppose not."

"They might just be lost kids in need of direction. Who better than the Avengers to put them on the right path?"

"Right now they're all convinced it's a group of out of control vigilantes with no morals. So is the newspaper."

"Let me guess, you're determined to get to the bottom of this."

"You know me so well." Her mom heaved a deep sigh but didn't try to convince Aspen not to go through with it. "It was Tony's idea, but I think it's a good one. They reached out to me after all."

"Not in the nicest of ways."

"He wanted to see where I stood. I'm going to tell him I've changed my mind. If I can convince him I'm not sure about my team maybe I can learn the truth about the Elite and if they're the ones behind the crime-fighting."

"Why not just ask outright?" her mom asked. "Why the cloak and dagger approach?"

"No one just gives up information in this business. Clearly they don't trust the Avengers."

"But they trust you?"

"I'm sure they don't, but they seem to think I'm like them."

"If you are going through with this then you need to remember something. These are people who have been abused by other people. They don't trust easily and they will react when they feel threatened. Some of them might be unstable; some might not have learned how to control their abilities yet. You remember what it felt like before."

"I do. I get better than anyone what it is to not be able to control yourself. I'll be careful. I do want to help them if they need it. No one should ever have to go through experimentation." Her thoughts flitted to Doctor Rinehart.

"I sometimes think the thirst for knowledge destroys all morals," her mom said, her voice distant. "We cross lines that were never meant to be crossed. We push too hard too fast."

"I didn't mean to imply you and Dad were monsters for what you did."

"I know, but in some ways what we were doing was no better than Stewart."

"You're _much_ better than him," Aspen told her.

"I wish I could say we've seen the last of people like Stewart but as you said, there's always someone new."

"Then I guess I've got job security." Aspen saw movement out of the corner of her eye. "I've got to go for now. I'll call again soon. I want to hear more about you and Aunt Vi."

"All right. Good luck, Aspen. I know if anyone can help those who have been hurt by experimentation, it's you."

"I hope so." She hung up and turned to face Natasha. "Hey, Tasha."

The redheaded spy joined aspen at the railing. "How's your mom?" she asked.

"Good." She relayed what her mom had told her. "Do you think it's a good idea to try to infiltrate them?"

"I think there's a chance they pose a threat to society even if they think they're helping. You're the only one they'll let within a mile of them. But whether you do this or not is your choice. I think it's a good plan, but I also think a lot could go wrong."

"I do want to do this," Aspen said. "Whether they're a threat or they just need some guidance."

"Then I think it's time for you to go solo," Natasha said with a smile. "But if you're willing to listen, I can pass along some tips."

"Teach me your ways," Aspen told her.

…

"You know she's got to make her own decisions," Clint said as he grabbed a beer from the cooler behind the bar. He tossed one to Steve too.

"It's eleven in the morning," Steve said, looking down at the bottle.

"It's been a long morning." Clint sat down and set his booted feet on the coffee table. "Pull up a seat."

Steve inwardly sighed. He knew he was in for one of Clint's lectures, but there was no avoiding it. He sat down in the chair next to Clint and popped the lid off his bottle.

"Aspen feels personally connected to this," Clint said.

"I get that."

"We can't predict when this group is going to act again or where. Aspen has a free ticket into their little club."

"I'm not going to try to stop her," Steve said. He knew better than to try that. Aspen could more than take care of herself.

"Good. We both know how well that goes." Clint took a long sip of his beer. "So how was Tony's party last night?"

"The usual. Forcing a smile for people who think you're nothing more than a novelty. I didn't see you there suffering with us."

"Yeah, I don't really do parties. Not stuffy parties where all the guests are potential investors anyway. Now a party with music and dancing and drinking – that's more interesting."

"Well, Tony does like to throw those kind of parties too."

"Which I never see you at," Clint said.

"I'm not really the party type," Steve told him. He hated the attention because inevitably there was someone there who was completely in awe of the fact that he was Captain America. He and Aspen both preferred quiet nights in their apartment watching the occasional historical document or playing board games. Tony frequently called them the most boring couple in history, but Tony had once gotten drunk in his Iron Man suit and nearly destructed his entire house, so he had a very different idea of having fun.

"Yeah, I kind of got that," Clint said. "But hey, no judgments."

"I just think there are more important things to focus on." Steve took a sip of the beer.

"Like your missing friend."

"Yeah." Steve couldn't help the disappointment that dripped off that one word.

"You'll find him when he wants to be found," Clint told him.

"I know. That's what Sam, Nat, and Aspen keep telling me." But it didn't make it any less frustrating.

"After I found out my brother was still alive, finding him proved difficult. Sometimes it seemed impossible, but eventually I found him. Just keep looking. Even if it's him who needs to decide that he wants to be found, never stop looking."

"Sometimes I'm not sure what to prioritize. I'm part of a team now, but Bucky is my best friend. I have to decide what comes first, and I always want to say Bucky, but I realize that I can't help him just yet."

"Hey, just because you have to put other things first doesn't make finding your friend any less important," Clint told him. "Anyway, someone's gotta lead this team."

"I'm not sure if Tony considers me the leader," Steve said, glancing at Clint. "It's his tower, his tech."

"And your strategy and skills and logic. I've got nothing against the way Tony does things, but the others look to you when they look to their leader. Nat thinks the world of you and believe me, it takes a lot to gain the kind of loyalty she shows you. Aspen has always looked to you for guidance, and I'm finding myself doing the same. You've got what it takes to lead a team."

Steve hadn't realized Clint felt that way. He'd never worded those thoughts before, but Steve felt touched. He hadn't thought of himself as the leader of the Avengers. They were a team and they worked together, but if someone had to lead them into battle, then he would be honored to do the job. He hadn't felt such a sense of belonging since working with the Howling Commandos back in the war. The dynamics were different, but that same camaraderie that he had missed was there. With SHIELD it had always felt like every man for himself. Everyone had their own agenda and there was never a sense of trust. He might not know everything about his fellow Avengers, but he trusted them.

"Thanks," he told Clint, tipping his beer bottle toward the archer. Clint clinked his bottle against it.

"You might have some competition one of these days though," Clint added. He nodded toward where Natasha and Aspen stood on the terrace outside. "Our girl is becoming more and more like a leader every day." He smiled, and Steve could see how proud he was. "I'll never forget the day I rescued her from ARTIFACT. She thought she knew everything. She had this cocky air to her that she didn't shake until she settled into her training at SHIELD and realized she didn't know everything. I'm not sure it really disappeared until she met you. With Loki she thought she could handle the situation on her own. But since she met you she's started thinking things through before acting – not always, but she's doing a lot better. She's gained confidence after having a rough start. She's trusting the right people now."

"Hopefully." Steve's thoughts flitted to the Elite.

"You think she trusts that Grey character?" Clint asked. He shook his head. "She knows what she's doing. Don't mistake trust and empathy. She wants to help people, and people who have been scientifically experimented on particularly strike a cord with her. But that's not trust."

"What do you think? Vigilante or villain?" Steve asked.

"Misguided perhaps, but I don't like to put a name to it when I don't know all the facts. Something tells me it's not black and white."

"It never is," Steve agreed. "I guess we'll find out."


	5. Solo Mission

**Author's Note:** I want Civil War so badly. I just think about it like every day. I'm also afraid. When I sat balling my eyes out in Battle of the Five Armies, I actually took that moment to think 'wow, I'm going to be 100 times worse in Civil War!' And I was trying not to sob out loud. You know the scene. Anyway, I'm going to be rocking back and forth on the floor probably.

Anyway, thank you again for favorites, follows, and reviews! I love hearing from you guys!

* * *

 **4 – Solo Mission – January 22, 2015**

"The key to getting someone to trust you enough to confide in you is to find something that connects you," Natasha told Aspen. They'd moved inside, finding a quiet space in the training room. Natasha kicked out of her boots and wrapped her hands with cloth. "You know what it's like to have someone experiment on you and to struggle with powers beyond your understanding." She turned to face Aspen. "That's a real connection. That doesn't take acting or making something up." She stretched, warming up. "Join me?"

Aspen nodded, wrapping her own hands and joining Natasha on the padded floor. She trained with the assassin frequently, honing her skills in hand-to-hand combat and balance. She'd never be as good as Natasha, but she was definitely an improved version of the girl who'd once worked as a smuggler.

"So if they see that we really do have a connection they'll be more likely to trust me."

"Well, they've already reached out to you. They know there's a connection. Now it's your turn to reach out to them. They trusted that you had enough in common with them to try to recruit you. Grey was testing you. You turned him down. Now you have to find a way to change your mind without making it look obvious." Natasha threw a fist out and Aspen ducked, pivoting to the side.

"What if I made up some insecurities?" she asked, taking a swing at the redheaded assassin. "Like little comments Tony or the others make that make me think Grey was right?" Natasha dodged the blow easily and the two circled each other.

"Just be careful you don't get in too far," Natasha warned.

"What do you mean?" Aspen blocked a punch, staggering as Natasha pivoted around, hand clamped around Aspen's arm. She stepped back to give Aspen a chance to recover.

"If you get too immersed you might start to doubt."

"Doubt what?" Aspen stopped, and Natasha surveyed her for a moment.

"Doubt your place here. Don't start to believe the lies you're making up."

"I won't. I wouldn't. I know I've earned my place on this team. I know my own value." She smiled. "Anyway, I've got the best friends in the world to remind me that I'm wanted here. Did you ever get in too far?" Aspen asked after a pause. She thought she might have asked too personal of a question when Natasha didn't answer at first, but then the spy started to talk, their sparing momentarily forgotten.

"There were times when I felt like I'd lost myself, like someone else was controlling my actions. It's not something I enjoy, that feeling of helplessness. I like to be in control of the situation and myself. There were times when that wasn't possible though."

"Did you ever disobey orders?"

"A few times. Whenever I thought I could get out, they reeled me back in like I was attached to the Red Room with invisible cords. I wasn't really free until I met Clint. However that meeting went down, he would have given me my freedom."

Aspen realized death was the other freedom Natasha spoke of. "I'm glad he made the call he did," she said.

"Me too. He taught me that everyone is worth saving, even me. It took him a long time to convince me of that. Joining SHIELD and then the Avengers gave me purpose. It helped me feel like I was working to become a better person. I might still be the same person I was, but it's a different life. I'm striving to be a better person. Each of you has shaped me in some way whether you realize it or not. You've taught me that I can trust the right people, that I can rely on my friends when I need to without being weak. Every time I'm around Steve I feel this intense need to be good and honorable."

"He has that effect on all of us," Aspen said.

"Thor reminds me that family doesn't have to be blood. Even Tony in his own way inspires me to keep evolving, to become something better and stronger."

"Clint however…nothing useful from that guy." Aspen gave Natasha a sly grin.

"I owe him everything even if he is a giant pain in the ass sometimes," Natasha said, a smile tweaking up the corners of her lips. "And then there's Bruce. Just when I think being an Avenger is all about fighting the battles that need to be fought, he reminds me that sometimes not fighting is an option. He reminds me that peace can be just as effective as war."

"Sounds like you've thought this all out."

"I just want to know my place here and how we strengthen each other. I'm used to flying solo. This whole team thing is new. It takes some getting used to, but I'm finding that I like it even if my past gives me some reservations about trusting people. I know I can trust my team. I know I can rely on them, and it's a good feeling. Being alone, looking over your shoulder, that gets lonely after awhile. I feel like my past can't catch up to me when I'm here."

"Did you know I haven't had a nightmare since I moved into the tower?" Aspen asked. "They stopped a few weeks after Steve and I moved in. I guess being surrounded by superheroes is better than a dream catcher."

"We all have cause for nightmares. It's nice to know we're not alone. We've all had difficult pasts in one way or another. Maybe that connection is beginning to help us all heal."

"I can imagine what nightmares those kids who have been experimented on must have. I hope their team helps each other out the way we do. Maybe we're not so different."

"The others might not see the similarities," Natasha said, "but in the end we all have something in common. We've gathered here together because there is no other place for us in the world."

It wasn't a comforting thought exactly, but Aspen realized how lucky she was to be on a team that understood her. Maybe she'd already learned that there wasn't a place for her to fit in in the normal world. What was normal anyway when she had the abilities she did? She'd never be normal, but she'd figured out that she didn't want to be a long time ago. "I guess all that's left is to see if the world we don't fit in needs us."

"Or fears us," Natasha finished.

 _They're secretly afraid of you._ Julian Grey's words slid through Aspen's memory. With power came reverence but it could also come with fear. _People fear what they don't understand_. Aspen had feared her own powers for the longest time. She had no right to expect others not to fear her. _We'll prove them wrong_ , she told herself fiercely. _We'll show them that the world needs us, that there's a place for us here, that they don't need to be afraid…_ First she would start with the Elite. If they were a threat to the world, then they were a threat to the Avengers. People wouldn't differentiate them. Hero, vigilante. The Avengers had been called both, so people wouldn't stop to consider that the Elite were different. The Avengers needed to prove to the world that they were there to help. If the Elite kept frightening people, then they'd undo all the work the Avengers had accomplished. The world needed heroes they could trust, not super-powered gods to be feared.

Aspen glanced at Natasha who was unwrapping her hands, giving up on their training session. It wasn't just about proving to the world that they weren't something to fear – they were proving this to themselves.

…

"This is the third party I've been to and no Julian," Aspen said to Tony as she stood with him saying goodnight to the guests to his latest party. It had been nearly two weeks since her first meeting with Julian, but he hadn't been to any of the parties Tony had held.

"And here I've been throwing all these parties for him," Tony said though his tone implied it was no imposition. Aspen was alone with him tonight. She'd thought Steve's presence might be a deterrent though Julian had bypassed him twice to get to her before. Still, Steve by her side could be a little intimidating to anyone who wanted to talk to her.

"Did you actually put him on your VIP list?" Aspen asked.

"Yeah, why?" Tony asked, lifting a brow.

"Because he probably thinks we were trying to trick him," Aspen said. "It was too obvious." He would know that Aspen had told her team about him.

"Well Julian _Everhart_ was the heir to a oil monopoly wanting to invest in cleaner energy production. It made sense to keep inviting him. Maybe we're approaching this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"We've been focusing on getting him here so you can convince him you're having doubts, yada yada. We need to make this about you."

"About me?" Aspen wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. She hated being the center of attention and Tony's ideas could sometimes be…out there.

"Julian Grey reached out to _you_ ," Tony said, pausing to shake a man's hand as he left the Tower. "He was interested in _you_ joining his team. Right now he has no reason to believe you feel any differently toward his proposition, but if you _show_ him you have some doubts, then he might approach you again."

"And how do I do that? I haven't been faking the boredom and annoyance at these parties. That comes naturally," she told Tony.

He gave her a scowl. "What we need is an argument. Those are always what bring doubts and deep, inner problems to light."

"You want to have an argument with me?" Aspen asked. "There's no one here to listen." All the guests had left and the other Avengers had made themselves scarce.

"Not with me. I mean we argue frequently but we obviously still love each other. You need to have an argument with the one person you _never_ argue with."

"Oh. Oh, no. I am _not_ picking a fight with Steve! I snapped at him recently, and I still feel horrible about it," Aspen protested.

"He'll get over it. He's tough. Besides you can tell him that it's just for show. He'll understand," Tony said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Will he? Why don't _you_ suggest this idea to him then?" Aspen asked.

"It will be better coming from you," Tony told her.

Aspen sighed. "So we stage this dramatic fight and Julian who just happens to be watching sees it and realizes I've changed my mind about being an Avenger and want to be part of his team? After one fight with my boyfriend?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "It's just planting the seeds of doubt," he told her.

"So what, Steve and I have to start fighting daily?"

"You could just start picking fights with all of us. Insult Bruce's glasses, tell Thor his helmet makes his head look big, tell Clint he sucks at Mario Kart – no wait, that one is true."

"Tell you you're insensitive and a big-headed jerk – no wait, that's true too."

"Funny."

"Fine. I'll stage one fight with him but if it doesn't work then we're done with that. But how do we know Julian is even watching? Should we broadcast our fight on the news?" Aspen felt frustrated. There hadn't been any more incidents involving the Elite and they still couldn't prove it even was the team of super-humans who had been behind the incidents.

"If Julian is serious about recruiting you then he'll be watching," Tony told her.

"That's kind of creepy."

"Don't worry, no one can get into the Tower unless they have permission," Tony told her. "We still don't know if Julian and his friends are a threat yet, so you can bet we'll be keeping a close eye on you until this gets sorted out."

"I don't need a babysitter or a personal guard, Tony. I can handle myself," Aspen told him curtly.

"I know that, but I'm also not taking a risk. I can't get tax breaks for my adopted daughter if she's dead."

"You are so charming." Aspen stuck her tongue out at him.

"And you are so mature."

…

"So Tony thinks we should stage an argument," Aspen told Steve that night as they cleared away the dinner dishes. She had been thinking about it all day and had been quiet during dinner. She hated Tony's idea but she also saw the merit in it. She would only argue with Steve if she was _really_ having doubts about her place on the team which was what she needed to convince Julian of if she was ever going to see him again. Part of her wanted to believe it wasn't necessary. Julian and his team hadn't been seen nor heard from and there had been no incidents, but it was naïve to believe they'd just stop trying to fight crime or whatever it was they were doing. They'd make the news again and if they were as careless as the other Avengers seemed to believe then someone else was going to get hurt. It was better that she take this solo mission than the team going in full thrust to stop the Elite.

Steve gave her a confused look. "Any particular reason why?" he asked.

"To give the Elite a reason to think I'm doubting my worth as an Avenger," she told him. "They might believe that I'd leave my other teammates, but they'd never believe I'd leave you unless I had a really good reason to."

"So you want to fake a fight so they think you want to get away from me?" he asked, and Aspen saw the hurt behind his eyes.

"Tony's idea. And it's only for the mission. You know that," she said, putting a hand on his arm. He nodded stiffly, moving away to finish loading the dishwasher. "This is my first solo mission as an Avenger. I don't want to mess it up. And of course it would be staged. I'd never leave you or the Avengers. This is my home and all of you are my family which is why it makes pretending I want to leave all the more difficult. It needs to be believable."

Steve gave her a half smile. "You're right," he said. "I'm still warming up to the idea of you doing this. I know you can handle it, but you know it's my job to worry about you."

"I know." She smiled at him, pulling his arms around her. "And I do appreciate that. But you've got to let me loose for a few days. Let me see what I can do."

He nodded again. "Okay. So where do we want to stage this fake fight? You know I'm not good at lying."

"I know. That's why I'll be coming up with the lies. You just react."

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to be terrifying?" he asked.

"You know my bark is worse than my bite," she told him. "Just remember that I'm acting. I think it should be tomorrow. Outside the tower. If Grey is waiting to see if I change my mind, then he'll have someone watching the building. At least Tony seems convinced of that. Hopefully he's right."

"Won't other people be watching then too?" Steve asked, looking unsure.

"Are you worried about public opinion?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I just don't want to make a scene."

"Then don't wear your uniform."

He gave her a smirk. "That's not what I meant."

"I know, I know. Just trust me. I'll come jogging with you at five am if that makes you feel better. No one in their right mind will be awake for several hours still, so we'll have some privacy. Then I always have the opportunity to run away dramatically if things escalate."

Steve shook his head, but there was a small smile pressing upward at the corners of his mouth. "I can never tell if you're being serious or not."

"I like to keep up an air of mystery. It keeps me interesting," she said.

"My life hasn't been boring since you stepped into it," he assured her.

"Good."

"I'm going to go to bed now," she told him even though the clock only read 8:30. "Otherwise you'll have to drag me out of bed and probably just carry me while you jog."

"Five isn't that early, you know," he told her.

"Whatever gets you out of bed in the morning," she threw back at him, snatching up Phoenix from where she snoozed on top of her cat condo and heading into the bedroom. It took her a long time to fall asleep as she played out potential arguments out in her head. After the third argument, she started to feel ill. The idea of arguing with Steve wasn't a happy one even if it was fake. What if she slipped up and said something that really did hurt? She forced the thought from her head. They both knew she didn't mean what she said come tomorrow. It was for a mission. She needed to come off as believable if Grey was ever going to approach her again.

When Steve came to bed, she pretended to be asleep, but he was fast asleep long before her eyelids finally closed from exhaustion.


	6. The Seeds of Doubt

**Author's Note:** As a holiday treat, I'm posting two chapters tonight! It is snowing like crazy here and is going to be a white Christmas, so I'm pretty excited! I can't wait to go take some photography tomorrow. Everything is so, so white. We haven't had this much snow for years. I'm so glad I have my studded snow tires and that my car's V6 engine gets me through the slush just fine because the roads are pretty nasty. I basically learned to drive in the winter though, so I actually kind of enjoy it. But I'm weird and like driving in dangerous conditions.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I'm still fiddling around with ideas on how to end part one. I'm not sure yet, but we have a ways to go. It's a long one! I'm so desperate for something Marvel to watch - like something new. I watched Jessica Jones and like everything else out there. I'm caught up on Agents. I even bought Ant Man. My best friend and I actually started watching Hulk and the Agents of Smash on Netflix... I can't stand most of the characters and Hulk is definitely not my favorite, but I'm desperate. haha. At least Star Wars is out! I can't wait to go see that. I also love Star Wars.

Thank you for follows, favorites, and reviews! Also author favorites and follows! It makes my day. :)

* * *

 **5 – The Seeds of Doubt – February 6, 2015**

True to her word, Aspen was awake at five o'clock and joined Steve for his daily jog. She didn't have to fake her grumpiness – that came naturally to her whenever she woke up before nine o'clock. Steve liked the routine of getting up at the same time nearly every morning. He did allow himself the occasional sleep in after a mission, but usually he felt antsy if he didn't go for his jog. His shoulders were tense as they left the building and the anticipation built up as he waited for Aspen to start their fake argument. He wished there was another way. He'd even found himself guiltily wishing she'd blame something on Tony. The two of them were frequently at odds even though he knew they both had a deep affection for each other despite their difference in opinions.

"Okay, remember I love you and I don't mean a word that I say," Aspen had told him before they pushed out of Avengers Tower. He'd only nodded, not trusting himself to say anything.

"Why didn't you and Tony tell me about the mission last week?" Aspen snapped suddenly. "I had to learn about it from Natasha."

There had been a mission the week before, but he and Tony had taken Thor and gone as a trio to avoid detection. Sending in the whole group would have called out attention, and Aspen had been busy tracking Hydra activity with Natasha and Clint. Now he supposed she was trying to come across as feeling left out. He realized he was taking too long to reply. "We had it covered," he told her shortly. "There wasn't any need to bring you in."

He could almost have believed the anger in her green eyes but she, unlike him, was a good actor. "Oh, I see. No need to include the rest of the team. I sometimes think you and Tony don't need anyone else. You've got your demi-god. What good are the rest of us? We can't fly or shoot lighting out of a magical hammer."

"You know that's not true."

"It's not the first time you haven't clued me into something. If you don't need me, fine, but you could at least tell me about the mission. It's hard to feel like a team when your teammates never tell you anything."

Before Steve could reply, he sensed someone watching. He didn't turn to look. He knew he wouldn't see them, but he could _sense_ them. The Elite did have eyes on the Tower. "Keep your voice down," he told Aspen. "Someone might hear." He saw the understanding in her eyes.

"And what, think we're less than a perfect team? Maybe bringing us down a notch would be good. People might forget we're human. Oh wait, that's just the half of the team that doesn't get to go on missions."

"If that's really how you feel, then I'll make sure you're included in the next mission," he told her.

"I don't need to be included like I'm some sort of petulant child! I want to be a part of this team. I want the team to need me. I have powers that none of the rest of you do."

"Are you saying you think you're better than the rest of us?" Steve saw a flash of real pain in Aspen's eyes. It helped a little to know she hated this argument as much as him.

"Of course not," she said, and for once that wasn't a lie. "But I do think my powers aren't being used to their full potential."

"We're still not sure what all you can do," Steve told her. "Maybe it's best we don't test them out on the field."

"Are you saying I'm too dangerous to take on missions?" She whirled on him, and he stopped short.

"You're not dangerous."

"But I am. We all are. But people trust you. They trust Tony. But me… People fear what they don't understand."

Was that a thought Grey had put into her head? "Those people don't know you," Steve said, softening his tone for a moment. "They don't know the real you. Does anyone outside of this Tower save family and friends?"

"Maybe not. Maybe it's better that way. Aren't heroes supposed to be anonymous? Protected by masks and made up names? Sometimes I feel like I'm in the spotlight all the time. Tony dragging me to all his parties doesn't help. He parades me around like I'm some sort of…trophy."

"He doesn't think you're a trophy. Tony would never use you."

"Right, and he's never used you either." Steve looked away. He knew part of what Aspen had just said was true. Even if Tony never meant to use either of them, he sometimes took advantage for his own personal gain. People were more likely to invest in his energy business when they were given a chance to shake Captain America's hand at the party. Steve had always considered it a favor to Tony. He'd never felt like he was being taken advantage of, but did Aspen? He had to keep reminding himself that this wasn't a real argument. "I just need some space to think," Aspen said.

"Aspen-" He reached for her, but Aspen slipped from his grasp.

"Just let me think," she said and walked away. He watched her go, not quite sure if everything she'd said had been acting. He hated the insecurity, but he had to trust Aspen. He continued his jog, his pace slower than usual. Two blocks later his phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket, sliding his finger across the screen to see Aspen's message.

 _I hope it worked_ , she'd written. _I didn't mean a word I said. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I hated every word that came out of my mouth._

He smiled to himself and typed back: _I know you didn't mean it. What next? It might take more than that to convince them._ He didn't want to think about another argument with her, but maybe someone else could play along since this was Tony's idea.

 _We wait to see if anything happens. They might not have bought it, but I'm pretty sure someone was watching. I'll meet you at home. Just keep up the act for a little while longer._

Steve stowed his phone away and continued his jog though his feet only wanted to carry him back home. He forced himself to keep running a little bit longer before turning back to Avenger's Tower. As he came within sight of it, something caught his eye high up on the tower – movement up high. As soon as he looked up the movement vanished around the side of the Tower, but he knew he had seen something. Forgetting any appearances, he sprinted the remaining distance to the Tower and shoved the doors open. His only thought was Aspen and whatever danger she might be in.

…

Aspen returned to the Tower after her faked argument with Steve feeling horrible despite the fact that it had all been an act. She knew someone had been watching them, but she had no idea if she'd been convincing or not. She took the elevator up to her apartment and greeted Phoenix.

"What's wrong?" she asked, noticing the cat's fur was bristling. She straightened, body tense as her eyes scanned the apartment. "Is someone here?" Her fingers went to the knife hidden in her jacket. She drew it and stepped further into the apartment. She heard no movement, but she checked the bedroom, bathroom, and all of the closets before accepting they were alone.

"What had you so spooked?" Aspen asked, kneeling down to stroke Phoenix. The cat had calmed down, but she kept glancing around as if expecting someone to appear. Aspen looked around to see if anything had been disturbed. Tony's security was unparalleled, so there was no way someone could have broken in without Jarvis being alerted. Something wasn't right though. Her eyes snagged on something on the counter. A note. It was as simple as that. She stepped toward the counter and picked up a piece of paper – her own paper from where a pad hung magnetized to the refrigerator.

 _You think I don't know a faked fight when I see one?_ It read. _If you wanted to talk, all you had to do was ask. Meet me at the West 41st Street subway, 9:00 tonight. I can show you what our team really does._

Aspen let the note flutter back down to the counter. So she sucked at acting, but he – she assumed this was Julian Grey – still wanted to meet with her again. Maybe she hadn't screwed up everything yet. She snatched the note again and headed down to the lounge to find Clint and Natasha. The two were locked in a deadly match of Mario Kart, Clint's brow furrowed and fingers mashing the buttons frantically. Natasha sat back, feet up on the coffee table, looking completely relaxed.

"Oh, come on!" Clint said as Natasha nailed his character with three green turtles.

Aspen hovered in the doorway until they'd finished the race – Natasha beating Clint by a hair. "Hey, guys," she said, coming over and perching on the edge of the coffee table. "So this morning Steve and I staged a fight outside to try to make it seem as if I was having doubts about the team – Tony's idea. We figured there was a small chance someone was watching. We were right." She handed the note to Clint, and Natasha leaned over to read it as well. "Apparently I can't act worth a damn, but it worked in the end. They want to meet with me."

"Where did you find this?" Clint asked.

"In my apartment."

"Someone broke into your apartment? How is that even possible? Didn't Tony make this place more secure than Alcatraz?" Clint asked, looking indignant.

"This message is from a group of people with powers," Natasha said. "Who knows what they can do? Grey can manipulate fire, but I bet he got someone else to deliver it. Someone with an ability that would allow them to break into the Tower undetected."

"I'm not okay with that! What if they'd been after you?" Clint said, looking at Aspen.

"They don't want to hurt me," Aspen assured him.

"But they could if they wanted to. I'm going to go talk to Tony." He moved to get up, but Natasha held out a hand to stop him.

"If Aspen is going to do this mission then we can't seal off the Tower like that. They'll know something is wrong."

"Something _is_ wrong," Clint said angrily. "She could have been seriously hurt. We don't know what their motives are yet."

" _She_ can handle herself!" Aspen cut in, holding up her hand. "Clint, I love you and I love that you are so protective of me, but this is my mission. You have to stop treating me like I'm a child. You're going to smother me. Anyway, I thought you were all for this. That's what Steve said."

"That was before these kids broke into your apartment."

"It's just a note, not a bomb. How else were they going to contact me?" Aspen asked, exasperated. Clint narrowed his grey eyes.

"They could have knocked on the front door."

"And you would have welcomed them in with open arms?" Aspen cocked her head at him, and he looked away. "That's what I thought. Look, they didn't mean any harm. I'm going to meet with them tonight and see what they have to say and I'm going _alone_ , so don't even think about trying to argue about that-" She cut off as the elevator doors opened, and Steve came into the room looking harried. His eyes stopped on her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh my god, get me out of here!" Aspen snapped. "Why? Why is everyone so concerned about me?!"

"I saw someone leaving our apartment," Steve said, narrowing his eyes. He was still dressed in his jogging clothes, but he was back sooner than usual. Aspen took the note from Clint and handed it to Steve.

"They left this. I'm fine."

Steve frowned down at the note. "It could be a trap," he said after he'd read it.

"Why does everyone keep insisting that they're out to get me? They reached out to me so that I would _join_ them. They think I'm like them! I'm tired of going around in circles over this. I'm going. Alone. End of discussion." She snatched the note back and headed toward the elevator, leaving the worriers behind.

She heard Natasha say, "You two worry far too much. One of these days she's just going to start throwing punches at the next person to try to hold her back."

…

Steve avoided Aspen the rest of the day or maybe she was avoiding him. She wasn't sure which. All she knew was that she needed some time to herself without the overbearing worrying of Clint and Steve. She knew they meant well, and it meant the world to have someone worrying over her, but she felt like a teenager who'd just gotten her license but wasn't allowed to drive. It was like Steve and Clint had confidence in her until the moment any sort of danger – even a false alarm – presented itself. Then suddenly they wanted her safe at home with 24/7 protection.

She shot another arrow. She'd been in the training room all afternoon shooting archery, shooting guns, punching bags – anything to beat away her frustrations without actually punching someone in the face. She froze when she heard someone enter the room.

"So, I know you're probably mad at me right now, but I thought we should talk."

"As a friend or as an overprotective, overbearing big brother?" Aspen asked, not turning to look at Clint.

"The first. Hey, your aim is really improving. You'll be as good as me before you know it," he said.

"If you're trying to butter me up, it's not going to work." But she smiled, shooting another arrow.

"I overreacted," he said. "Way overreacted. I keep forgetting you were working by yourself long before I met you. You know what you're doing and you're probably more powerful than all of us put together, so you can look after yourself."

"I'm not more powerful than all of you," she said, finally turning to look at him.

"Maybe you just don't think you are. But that's okay. You're modest and humble. It's a good way to be when you've got that kind of power." He pointed to her brain. "I can't imagine anyone handling it better than you do which is how I know you can handle this mission. You learned control. These kids don't seem to have learned that yet. Maybe you _can_ help them."

"A lot of us started out on the wrong side," Aspen said. "We all got second chances."

"I guess it's kind of what we do," he agreed. "Natasha talked me out of following you tonight. It took some convincing, but then I realized you'd never talk to me again if I did."

Aspen smirked at him. "Thanks, Clint. It means a lot to hear that you think I'm ready."

"You don't need me to tell you that. You've been trying to tell _me_ that for ages now. I just wasn't listening. Or I thought I was, but I guess I wasn't."

"Well you are now. Now if only I can get the overprotective boyfriend onboard."

"Yeah, you should probably talk to him," Clint told her, picking up an arrow and twirling it in his hand. "He thinks he has to apologize for protecting you, but you know he'll never stop. It's who he is, and he loves you too much to ever let his guard down."

"He doesn't have to apologize for that. I shouldn't have snapped."

"Oh, no we had it coming. At least I did. I'm not sure he did. Just talk to him. I hate it when he gets broody. I never know what to say to him."

Aspen put away her bow and gave Clint a friendly punch to the shoulder. He rubbed it, pretending like it hurt before ruffling her hair and pushing her toward the doors.

Aspen found Steve in the training room on their floor punching a sandbag with all his might. The chains holding it up creaked, and she saw a split forming in the bag. A moment later, it burst open, spilling sand all over the floor. Steve stepped back, looking down at the mess he'd made.

"How many of those have you gone through this year?" Aspen asked, stepping into the room. Steve looked up at her, eyes wary, and she felt a stab of guilt. "I'm sorry I snapped earlier. I'm sorry I thought that fake argument was a good idea. I'm sorry for anything that upset you at all."

"You didn't upset me," Steve said, taking a step toward her. "I just needed to step back a little from the situation. Clearly they weren't trying to harm you when they left that note. And if they _had_ wanted to hurt you, you would have been able to handle yourself without me."

"You don't have to always be the one protecting me," she said, closing in the space between them. "I can protect myself and even, if you allow it, protect you if the need arises."

"So I guess we're lousy at fighting?" he said, a smile lighting up the edges of his mouth.

"That's not really a bad thing though is it?" Aspen returned his smile, leaning up toward him. He met her halfway, leaning down to kiss her.

"Not at all," he said when they pulled apart. "It's something I never want to be good at."

"We can't let this job get between us," Aspen told him. "Ever. No matter what the mission, no matter what the situation. We're a team even if we're working a solo mission."

"Agreed." He took her hands, and his warmth surged through her. "I'm going to clean up this mess, and then let's go out somewhere for lunch. We've been cooped up here for too long, and I guess we don't need to pretend to be angry at each other anymore."

"Nope. You never can tell a lie. You get so flustered and awkward," Aspen told him teasingly. "You're just far too just and good to do such a thing."

"Oh really?" he said, sounding torn between amusement and chagrin.

"Take it as a compliment," she told him. "Just don't ever play Poker with Tony and Clint."


	7. Inhumans

**6 – Inhumans – February 6, 2015**

Aspen left Avengers Tower at 8:50, walking to the subway with a combination of excitement and nerves. She didn't bring her dart guns, but she had the knife Natasha had given her tucked into a hidden pocket in her jacket. She pulled her scarf up to her chin and hurried to get out of the January bite. She didn't know if Julian himself would be greeting her or one of his Elite. Either way she had a feeling they all knew who she was.

She entered the subway station, which wasn't any warmer than the street above, and scanned the area. Her eyes fell on Julian Grey a moment later. He was dressed hipster style with tight jeans and a long jacket, black-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He looked younger than he had in a suit, and Aspen had to remind herself of what he could do.

"Hello Aspen, I'm so glad you came," he said.

"I'm glad I got your attention. Although I'm still not sure how you got through our defenses."

"We meant no harm. One of our members has an ability that made it possible. My only intent was to answer your message – that is to say your little show. Shall we?" He motioned for the train that had just stopped.

"Where are we going?" Aspen asked as she followed him.

"Ah, now I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." He gave her a smirk, but she didn't return it.

"I don't like surprises from people I don't trust," she said flatly.

He just smiled, taking a seat. She sat down across from him, eyes scanning the rest of the train for anyone who stood out. "We're alone," he told her, guessing what she was doing. "I'm surprised you are. Or maybe you've got your Avengers following you right now. I don't think I'd see the Black Widow coming."

"I came alone. I don't need a guard or a baby sitter," she said, turning her attention back to him.

"But you're nervous."

"I'm taking in my surroundings. SHIELD training. I might not be an agent anymore, but I still keep my guard up. You would too if you'd been betrayed as many times as I have."

"You'd be surprised what I've been through," Julian said softly.

"Experimentation. I know Stewart got to you too."

"I see you already know more about me than I thought." He didn't look surprised.

"Ah, but I'm sure I have the disadvantage. Everyone knows the Avengers and ever since SHIELD data was dumped onto the internet, my secrets aren't so secret anymore."

"You really think everyone believes half of what was in those files?" Julian asked.

"I don't know what they believe."

"Some people still don't believe aliens really attacked New York. They think it's a government conspiracy."

"Really?" Aspen laughed. "I guess that could sound more believable to some people. Some mornings I wake up still astonished at how my life has turned out, and I never had a normal life to begin with."

"None of us did either," Julian said. "We're more alike than you know."

"I guess we'll see."

The tram took them toward Brooklyn, and Aspen made a mental note of the city as they rode. She and Julian didn't speak again until the tram stopped and Julian rose. "This is us," he said, and Aspen followed him off. The subway station was fairly empty by now, but there were still plenty of people out on the sidewalk when they breached the open air again. They walked for a few blocks, turning down a residential street.

"Now can I ask where we're going?" Aspen asked, looking around.

"You'll see. I want to show you what we can do." Julian was smiling, but Aspen found she didn't like being left in the dark. She also didn't think it would be a good idea to keep testing Julian. Instead she kept her mouth shut, keeping pace with Julian, senses taking in everything around them. She didn't sense anyone else with powers, not like Julian who had a distinctive aura around him now that she noticed. It was like a spark amid the dullness of everyone else.

"How did you learn to control your powers?" Aspen asked him, filling in the silence. She found it unnerving, and she preferred to be on equal ground as far as knowledge went. So far Julian had the advantage.

"I had some help from a friend," Julian said. "She showed me that I wasn't alone, that I wasn't a monster. We helped each other out and eventually I was able to get my powers under control." He glanced at her. "I suppose you know everything about my past."

"Only what was in old SHIELD files. Which isn't much. I know what you can do and that Peter Stewart experimented on you for a time until you escaped his facility." She paused. "I know what happened to your girlfriend."

Julian showed no signs of emotion. "That's a pleasant way of saying it. What you really mean is that you know I killed my girlfriend. Her family too."

"I also know what it's like to lose control of your powers. I know what it's like to have no idea how to use them. It was an accident, but that was years ago. You've either forgiven yourself or moved on. I know what it's like to survive with guilt. You never forget, you never really get over it. You learn to cope, learn to hide it."

"And who did you kill with your powers? A few Hydra agents? Last time I checked your boyfriend was alive and kicking." He didn't raise his voice, but the message was clear: Aspen might have some similarities to the Elite, but she had no right to presume she understood what any of them had gone through.

"I haven't really hurt someone I care about. You're right. I can't imagine what you must have gone through."

"Then be glad," his tone was softer now, quiet anger set aside. "We all have stories. We all have pasts that still haunt us in our sleep. I know you have a story too. I don't know everything though you might think I do. I don't, for instance, know if you asked to be injected with that serum or if you were injected against your will." He glanced at her.

"Knowing Stewart, what do you think?" Aspen asked wryly.

"He's a monster."

"Was. He's dead."

"It said his body was never recovered in the SHIELD file," Julian reminded her.

"He's dead. I saw the arrows and bullets hit him."

"Either way, he's not on this planet anymore," Julian said. "But A.I.M. is and other organizations that have no concept of humanity. They're still out there even if we don't see them."

"Is that why you formed the Elite?" Aspen asked.

"We came together to help each other. First and foremost we find those who are lost and teach them that they aren't a stain upon humanity, that they have a place in this world."

"Then it wasn't you in the bank the other night?" she asked the question innocently, glancing sideways at Julian.

"What makes you think that was us?" he asked.

"The burn marks but lack of fire? And your comment to me, what was it? 'Don't tell me you've never liked the feeling of using your powers against someone who wants to hurt you'."

"They killed the guard. They would have tried to kill us too, so I stopped them. Don't tell me the Avengers have never taken a life to protect their own."

"They think you're a group of rogue vigilantes," Aspen said.

"And you're here to prove them right?" Julian cocked an eyebrow.

"Or to prove them wrong," Aspen told him. "I don't believe you're a threat, but they do."

"A threat to the world or a threat to them, I wonder."

Aspen wasn't quite sure how to answer that. They'd come to a darker side of Brooklyn now, nearing the East River and the docks. The air was freezing by the water, but suddenly a warmth washed over her. She looked at Julian expecting to see a fire burning in his hands, but he just smiled at her.

"Control," he said. "It's amazing what else you can do once you have control. Of course you can do just about anything you put your mind to."

Aspen avoided his gaze. "Doesn't mean I choose to."

"So powerful and yet so humble. It's not a bad way to be. That kind of power in the wrong hands could be catastrophic."

"I'm not sure I'm the best person to have it, but if it will help take down Hydra and A.I.M. then I'll use it when I can."

"Here we are."

They'd reached the docks now, and Aspen looked around wondering just what she was supposed to be seeing. She reached out and felt five bodies out there by the water. Their heat signatures were more difficult to pick up since they were cold in the January air – well below freezing.

"There are five men down there. Not yours," she said. "A little late to be at the docks." It was half past nine by now. Her breath was fogging up the air though Julian's warmth kept her from shivering. She was picking up on a different energy now as they stood. The energy vibrated and then sparked like an electrical surge. She could feel it running through the power lines above and the ground beneath her feet. It was pure energy.

"What is _that_?" she asked.

Julian's lips raised in a smile. "Who, you mean. That's Amber."

"I can sense her power. It's unlike anything I've ever felt. What is it?"

"I don't want to ruin the surprise. Wait and see."

Aspen frowned. "Can you at least tell me what we're doing here? Are those five men doing something illegal?"

"They're smuggling stolen weaponry to A.I.M.," Julian told her. "There's an operation near by that buys it. We've been tracking their activities for several months now. We managed to get the date and location of this delivery."

"You brought me along to see your team in action." Smart. "I hope you're not planning on killing those men. They're only following orders."

"Don't worry. We only kill when necessary. Self-defense."

Aspen wasn't convinced, but she could always intervene if things went south. "Who else is here?" she asked. She couldn't see anyone yet, but she could sense at least three people with powers nearby.

"That would be Callie and Zane."

"You guys use your real names? Don't you have codenames?"

Julian threw back his head and laughed. "Codenames? We're not the Avengers," he told her, still chuckling.

"Sorry I asked."

"Do you have a code name?" he asked, giving her a curious look.

"No." Tony had pressed for Lady America nearly nonstop when Aspen had first joined the Avengers, but she had told him she didn't want to sound like a Captain America rip-off. Clint had taken to suggesting names every few weeks, but so far 'Brainy-Girl,' 'Power-Girl,' and 'I'm-Too-Cool-For-A-Superhero-Name-Girl' were his best suggestions.

"What would you call me?" Julian asked, his eyes glinting with amusement. "What name would your Avengers give me?"

"Let's not go down that path. What are your Elite going to do?"

"Impatient aren't you? Just wait and see. The show's about to start."

Aspen didn't like the way he said that as if taking down criminals was a circus act rather than an important job. As she watched, the lights above her and along the docks fizzled out leaving them in darkness. Sparks rained down on the pavement.

"Electricity," Aspen muttered. "That's one of their power – the ability to manipulate energy."

"That would be Amber." Julian sounded proud, and Aspen realized he was. These were people he'd helped train. This was his family. "Keep watching."

Aspen could hear the men on the docks now, disconcerted by the sudden lack of light. Then there was a slash and the waves around the dock rose up to form a wall.

"Manipulation of water?"

"That'd be Calypso." Aspen cut her eyes to Julian. "She picked that name. No one knows her real name," Julian explained.

Now there were distinct shouts coming from the docks as the five men were surrounded by the water. As she watched, Aspen saw two figures move down to the docks, mere shadows in the moonlight. A surge of energy spurted from one of them and the water became electrified. The third one – Zane – had yet to show himself. Aspen was starting to wonder if Julian had been lying when he'd told her they didn't kill unless necessary. It looked very much as if Amber and Calypso intended to deep-fry the smugglers, but then a third figure stepped forward through a doorway that opened in the wall of electrified water. Aspen moved closer, crossing the street to the edge of the docks so she could see clearly. Julian followed, and they watched as Zane approached the men. They all turned on him, guns aimed at his heart, clearly terrified. Aspen thought for sure he was going to be shot, but then the smugglers' arms went limp and then their legs. They collapsed to the docks.

"What did he do?" Aspen asked, whirling on Julian.

"Relax. Zane has a very special ability. He can control muscles. Make them weak so they can't hold people up, so they can't fire guns. They'll be fine."

"What do you plan on doing with them?"

"Nothing. We'll take the weapons, of course, destroy them. Then we let the smugglers lead us straight to the lion's den. Simple tracking device should do the trick."

"You're going to take out the base?" That seemed like a big mission for…she didn't want to say amateurs… "How many of you are there?" she asked.

"On my team? Six. Altogether…" He paused to think. "Fifteen. Most are just seeking shelter and learning to control their abilities. We find more every few months. Subjects of testing, people fearful of what they can do. Some come by their abilities naturally, some were injected with something or exposed to something. We're trying to broaden our range, but most come from the East Coast area so far. SHIELD had a word for us. Inhumans. Nothing like a name to categorize us as less than human."

"You're just as human as anyone. But not everyone understands people like us."

"People fear what they don't understand," Julian quoted Aspen's words from her faked argument with Steve.

"What are they afraid of? What we can do or what we might do to them?"

"Or perhaps they're afraid that we've evolved and they haven't. That we're equipped to handle the future and they aren't."

Now Amber and Calypso were lowering their barrier and the night fell dark again. Aspen worried that someone might have seen but Julian didn't seem concerned. He strode toward his fellow Elite, and Aspen followed, wondering if the others were aware of her. The girl named Amber turned and met her eyes. Aspen nearly did a double take. The girl's eyes were a golden shade that stood out against her dark skin. They were unearthly but beautiful. They set her apart as different, and Aspen wondered how many people had looked the other way because of this. Right now the golden eyes were narrowed in distrust.

"Is this the Avenger you told us about?" she asked, speaking to Julian without taking her eyes off of Aspen.

"Yes. This is Aspen."

"Impressive what you did," Aspen said.

"Impressive? This isn't some sort of show though I'm sure Julian might say differently," Amber said, her tone hostile.

"I didn't say it was a show," Aspen corrected, keeping her tone neutral. "Our powers aren't something to be gawked over. You handle the situation well."

"You're surprised that we're disciplined?" Amber asked. Aspen wasn't sure why she was being so hostile, but she refused to back down. She was an Avenger, not some newbie in awe of Amber's powers. "That we're not running around causing chaos."

"I'd be disappointed if you were. Julian spoke proudly of the Elite. I would expect no less than discipline."

Amber nodded slowly as if accepting Aspen's words. "Then why are you here?" she asked.

"Julian didn't tell you? He asked me to join your group."

Amber's eyes flitted to Julian. "You told me she turned you away."

"Well she hasn't exactly changed her mind." Julian looked at Aspen.

"The Avengers think you're a potential threat. I'm here to see if you are," Aspen said. Clearly acting wasn't going to fool anyone, so she went with the truth. It's what Steve would have done.

"A threat." Amber lifted a brow. "To the Avengers."

"People got hurt in that bank."

"Those people were criminals. They shot one of the guards and they were going to shoot us. What else were we supposed to do?" she snapped, hostile again.

"Zane took care of the situation here pretty deftly," Aspen said, refusing to back off.

"Zane wasn't there. He was recovering from a training injury. We're not tools."

"I never said that." Aspen turned to Julian. "Why am I here? This is turning out to be a waste of time."

"The Elite never back down from a fight," Amber said.

"I didn't come here to fight."

"Did you ever consider that the Avengers might be a threat to us?" Amber asked. "We're just trying to make our way in the world and save a few lives along the way. How is that so different from what you do?"

"It isn't. I never said I thought you were a threat. I'm here, aren't I? I wanted to prove them wrong. And they're not a threat to you as long as you aren't breaking any laws or hurting people."

"We just want to help in our own way," Julian said. "That's why I hoped you'd come with us tonight when we raid the A.I.M. facility."

"You want me to come on a mission with you?" Aspen asked, surprised.

"That's not a good idea, Julian," Amber said, but Aspen kept her eyes on Julian. He was their leader. Amber might be hostile, but she would listen to him. Zane and Calypso were eyeing Aspen curiously, but neither looked threatened by her like Amber clearly was.

"Are you in?" Julian asked Aspen.

She gave him a curt nod hoping this wasn't going to end up being a terrible idea. "I'm in."

Amber didn't argue though she sent Aspen a glare. Zane and Calypso came forward to meet her, the downed smugglers temporarily forgotten. "Are you really part of the Avengers?" Zane asked, looking awestruck. He looked maybe eighteen with dark hair and olive-toned skin.

"Yeah, I am," Aspen said, feeling pride toward her team.

"So no chance of you joining our team…?" Zane looked hopeful.

"Sorry." Aspen's glance darted to Julian. "I'm happy where I am. They're not just my team, they're my family. Just like I bet you guys are each other's family."

"Better than our actual families," Calypso said. She looked a bit like a sea goddess with wild blonde hair, freckled face, and sea green eyes. Tattoos peeked above the collar of her jacket and her nose ring glinted from the moonlight. "Mine dumped me in an mental house when I was twelve. I guess making the water in the kiddie pool form shapes wasn't normal." At least Aspen's parents hadn't dumped her. It might have felt like it at the time, but now she knew they'd done what they could to protect her. She couldn't imagine being dumped in an insane asylum like she was crazy.

"I was paralyzed in a car crash when I was sixteen. Doctors said I'd never walk again," Zane said. "This guy approached my parents and said he had this serum that would get my body working again. It was our last hope. It worked, but not quite in the way he'd expected. He tried to fix it, but it wasn't really doing any harm as long as I kept it under control."

"Zane was lucky to have the supportive parents," Calypso put in.

"Yeah, well they kind of gave that guy permission to inject me with an experimental drug. They better have supported me," Zane defended.

"Are we going to stand here chatting all night or get this mission going?" Amber cut in.

"Is she always this intense?" Aspen asked softly.

"Not usually quite so intense," Zane told her. "I think she just doesn't like you."

"Great."

"Take it as a compliment. Amber isn't threatened by many people, but she's certainly threatened by you."

"I'm not here to threaten anyone," Aspen protested.

"Maybe not, but you're really powerful, you have really powerful friends, and you have something in common with us – you know what it's like to be experimented on, to be a subject. I think it's Amber's goal to be the one who's suffered the most and she _has_ suffered a lot. I think only Julian knows the full extent of it. She's damaged, and I think she likes to be that mysterious girl with a dark past."

"People are going to start noticing the lights are off if they haven't already," Amber pressed.

"Let's move out," Julian took charge. "Zane, wait until we load the weapons and then release them. After we get in the car, turn the lights back on," he told Amber.

Zane pulled a van down to the dock and they loaded the weapons. They were all carefully packed, and Aspen was taken straight back to her smuggling days. Julian seemed to be thinking the same thing – of course that had been in the SHIELD files. She'd never actually _read_ her files. She hadn't ever wanted to know what had been dumped on the internet. She hadn't read anything. Whatever secrets her friends might have had exposed to the world weren't hers to learn from anyone save those friends.

After the cargo was loaded, Zane started the van. In the rearview mirror, Aspen saw the men get up, looking around in confusion. As the van drove away, the lights on the docks flickered back on.

"I fried their cells and comms so they'll have to report directly," Amber said from the backseat.

"Good. We'll drop off the cargo and then gather the others."

"So how exactly do you plan on taking down an A.I.M. facility?" Aspen asked. She couldn't imagine they had much experience with that.

"Well, I'm glad you asked," Julian said with a smile. "You're about to meet the rest of the Elite and see just what we can do."


	8. Vigilantes

**7 – Vigilantes – February 6, 2015**

"Look alive, we've got a situation," Tony said, striding into the lounge. It was after ten now, an hour after Aspen had left. Steve was idly watching Thor and Clint battle each other on some video game he couldn't quite understand while Bruce looked over his tablet in the corner. They all looked up at Tony as he entered the room with Natasha at his side. He waved his tablet at them. "Just got some intel that there's an A.I.M. facility in Brooklyn that's about to receive a large shipment of weaponry that I'd really rather not see in their possession."

"Is this the same one you've been keeping tabs on for awhile?" Steve asked, glancing at Natasha.

"They're the ones. They're really not as covert as they'd like to believe. They're occupying a run down theater that gives them a front. I'd say that they're scrambling to get back in the game after so many of their headquarters were wiped out."

"Do they have a game plan?" Steve asked.

Natasha shrugged. "General mishap and chaos. They've been receiving a lot of equipment lately. It makes it look like they're just renovating the theater, but I managed to hijack a box last week and it's definitely not something you'd need to refurbish a building."

"It's something I hadn't seen before. Like a weapon but not quite. More like armor. I haven't figured out its function yet though," Tony said, his brow furrowed in frustration. Tony hated a puzzle he couldn't solve, but if Steve knew anything about Tony Stark it was that he could solve just about any puzzle if he put his mind to it. "It's just one piece. If we could get more then I could get a better idea of what the armor is made for."

"So I take it we're going in," Clint said, putting down his game controller.

"We need to take down the facility," Natasha said. "If we intercept the shipment beforehand they'll suspect something, so we deal with that after." She was already dressed for a mission, red hair neatly bobbed in waves. She always looked ready to jump into action.

"Stealth mission. Be ready in ten. We're taking the Avenjet. Bruce, I want you in the lab. I'm going to send some readings to you when we get there," Tony instructed. Bruce nodded, looking relieved. He didn't tend to come on missions like this with them. He preferred to spend his time in the lab analyzing and researching. Steve knew he doubted his use on the team as the Hulk, but Natasha had been working with him on controlling his transitions and keeping some control as the Hulk. He was an asset to the team as Bruce though and as far as Steve was concerned, he thought it should be up to Bruce what missions he went on and whether he changed to complete them. No one was going to force him into something he didn't want to be. Tony never trod carefully around Bruce and the matter of his alter ego. He always insisted that Bruce needed to embrace who he was. Bruce seemed to appreciate Tony's candidness, so Steve tried not to step into his defense when he thought Tony was being too pushy.

"All right, Hawkeye reporting for duty," Clint said, grabbing his bow and arrows from where he kept them close at hand. Steve hurried up to his apartment to change. Usually on missions he just wore his new suit that Tony had helped design, but on stealth missions like this he had a second suit very similar to his steal suit at SHIELD. It was a deep navy blue with a star at the center of his chest. It was flexible and served as a layer of armor as well. He clicked his shield into place on his back and headed down to the helipad where the Avenjet lay in wait. He found himself wanting to turn to talk to Aspen, but she was still off on her own mission. Natasha seemed to notice because she walked over to him and nudged his arm with her shoulder.

"Feel like you're missing a limb?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah, something like that." It wasn't like this was the first time he'd been on a mission without Aspen, but it still felt off balanced.

"Well I guess your old partner will have to do for now," she told him.

"How do you think Aspen is getting on?" Steve asked as he and Natasha seated themselves aboard the Avenjet.

"I'm sure she's doing just fine. How many times have you checked your phone since she left?" Natasha asked.

Damn, she knew him too well. "Only once," he said defensively.

"Liar," she said with a smile.

"Okay, maybe it was two or three times. That's besides the point," he told her.

"She's better equipped to handle herself than any of us," Natasha assured him. "She just might not know it yet."

The Avenjet started up, Tony and Clint in the pilot and copilot's seats, Thor across from Steve and Natasha. "Going into stealth mode," Tony said aloud, pressing a sequence of buttons. "And up we go." The Avenjet lifted into the air and arced gracefully around.

Ever since Tony had designed and built the Avenjet, they'd been taking it everywhere on missions. It was useful, and it didn't take a genius to see how advanced it was. If SHIELD still existed, they'd be begging Tony to redesign their quinjets.

"The theater is located in an older section of town. It's two stories, original architecture from the fifties when it was built. They're keeping their equipment in the sublevel."

"Got a plan, Cap?" Tony asked, referring to Steve for tactics.

"Just to be clear, are we taking down the base _and_ taking in the A.I.M. agents or just taking out the base?" Ever since SHIELD's fall, what they did with the 'bad guys' had become a little hazy. It was one thing taking out Hydra agents who were trying their hardest to kill you and another to take out scientists who might not even be armed.

"The CIA has a special place for them. They'll be on the scene after we're finished to take them in." Steve wasn't so sure the CIA appreciated cleaning up their messes, but he supposed they didn't say no to Tony Stark. "Relax, we've got this."

"Okay, Tony, you scan the perimeter and make sure there are no security measures that might stop us. Take them down if you have to. Nat and Clint, you take the roof. Find a way in and incapacitate anyone who gets in the way. Make your way to the sublevel. Thor and I will enter through the front and back and secure the perimeter. We don't want anyone making a run for it." He would have asked Aspen to scan the building to see how many people were there, what their location was, and if she could sense anything unusual about the equipment. She could have had any security down in a second, but Steve didn't doubt the abilities of the current team. "We incapacitate anyone inside and get to whatever they're building or keeping inside."

"I'm going to put her down on the roof so we can get the equipment up easily," Tony said, angling the Avenjet downward as they approached their destination. "Easy in and out job," he said. "Hopefully Aspen won't be too disappointed not to be a part of the action."

"She's got her own mission," Steve told him, wondering where exactly Aspen was.

…

Aspen wasn't sure what to expect when she entered the headquarters of the Elite. Certainly not the dank warehouse close to the docks.

"It's only temporary," Julian told her, looking slightly embarrassed for the first time since she'd met him.

"Nothing like the fancy tower you live in," Amber added, looking smug.

"Well it's not as if being a superhero pays much," Aspen said. "And not everyone has a Tony Stark. Which is actually probably a good thing. I can't imagine more than one Tony Stark in the world."

Zane chuckled, but Amber just turned away. "She'll come around," Zane told Aspen.

"You sure about that?" She lifted a brow.

"She's just territorial."

"Well I'm not here to stay. Just think of this as an assessment."

"The Avengers really think we're a threat?" Zane asked. "I don't know if that's cool or scary."

"They think you might be a threat if casualties are common on your missions."

"And the Avengers have never take a life in defense?"

"You know that's not true. They like to think they're above that but the truth is people get hurt. We can't save everyone and sometimes saving people requires taking lives. It's just part of the job. I don't like it. None of us do." _Don't tell me you've never liked the feeling of using your powers against someone who wants to hurt you._ Did Julian get more out of this than the others? He seemed to be their leader. Maybe he just did what was necessary. She didn't know who was technically the leader of the Avengers. They lived in Tony's tower, used his tech, but Steve was the one with the plans who led them into missions. Tony wasn't afraid of making the difficult choices whereas Steve thought everything through before acting and refused to make the hard choice if it meant people got hurt. They were so different and yet their differences were what made the team really work. Did Julian have a voice of reason or was he the one who made the difficult choices?

"I'll give you a quick tour," Julian said. "Zane, Callie start unloading the truck. Get Dylan and Corbin to help."

"How are you going to destroy the weapons?" she asked.

"Corbin has a power that will negate the weapons. They won't be a problem. Let me introduce you." Aspen followed Julian further into the warehouse. She saw targets and a padded floor – an area for training. There were two people training there now, sparing together. A girl who vanished and reappeared a few feet away was fighting a boy who sent energy bolts out from his hands. They stopped sparing when Julian and Aspen approached.

"New recruit?" the girl asked, reappearing in front of Aspen.

"Not quite," Julian said. "This is Aspen. Aspen this is Lily and Teagan."

"Nice to meet you," Aspen said, smiling at them. "Impressive sparing."

"I know you," Teagan said excitedly. "I saw you on TV during the invasion. You were fighting with the Avengers!"

"You're an Avenger?" Lily asked, eyes widening.

"I am."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm giving her a tour. She wanted to see the team, see what we do and how we handle missions," Julian said. "Teagan is a new recruit. Lily just made the team."

"How does one make the team?" Aspen asked.

"You have to have complete control of your powers," Lily answered at once. "We don't want to be a danger to anyone including ourselves. Julian teaches us how to use our abilities."

"Are the Avengers looking for new recruits?" Teagan asked eagerly.

Aspen smiled at his enthusiasm. "No," she said. "I mean, that's not why I'm here. Sounds like you've already got a good team."

"Lily we're on mission in ten. We're taking down an A.I.M. facility." Lily's eyes widened and Aspen wondered if this would be her first mission. "We need the whole team." Lily nodded. "Maybe next time," Julian told Teagan. "Your training is coming along well. We live and train here," Julian told Aspen. "Each new recruit is paired with a more experienced mentor. We test their abilities to see what they do and how they can be used. They don't go out in the real world until they're ready. Some of them are on the run from the law. Some just learn to control their abilities and then go solo. Not everyone wants to be a hero."

"Not everyone is cut out for the job."

"I hope you think we are," Julian said, "once you see us in action."

"I just hope you know what you're doing. Taking down an A.I.M. facility – even a minor one – isn't a small feat." She should call the Avengers, but she knew she needed to give Julian and his team a chance. She would be there if things went south.

"Just trust me."

"Trust doesn't come that easily. Tell me, why were you so convinced my team is going to use me?" Aspen asked. "When we met, you made it sound as if I didn't fit with them."

"Maybe I was a bit out of line," Julian said. "I don't know them well enough to make that call. I thought they might fear your powers." He shook his head. "Not so much your powers but _how_ powerful you are. You might not use your abilities to their full potential, you might not even know what all you can do, but you could do just about anything you put your mind to if you wanted. Tony Stark is someone used to being in control. You could bring him down with the snap of your fingers."

Aspen felt a chill run down her spine. "I would never do that," she said. "I don't want to have power over anyone."

"But you have that potential. Have you ever considered that your team might consider _you_ a threat?"

Aspen stared at Julian, mouth opening to speak but nothing coming out. Her mind was whirling with his words. "They don't see me as a threat," she finally said, her voice coming out quieter than she'd meant it to. "They know I'd never do anything to hurt them."

"Of course not. Like I said, I was out of line."

Aspen jumped when Callie and Zane reappeared, her thoughts still lingering on Julian's words. "Ready, boss," Zane said.

"Shall we?" Julian asked. Aspen nodded, following him. Zane and Callie fell into step behind them. Lily was standing with Amber next to the car. A tall boy with golden hair and sapphire eyes was there too. "This is Corbin," Julian said. Corbin gave Aspen a nod before climbing behind the wheel of the SUV. "Ready?" Julian asked the rest of his team. They nodded and they got into the car, Julian offering Aspen the passenger seat up front. They drove out the open door and into the night. It felt strange being on a mission with another team. Aspen felt like an extra wheel with no idea what to do.

The night city flew by outside, traffic sparse at this hour. Aspen wanted to ask what the plan was, but she wasn't sure she was really _involved_ with the plan. Maybe they just expected her to stay in the car and be the getaway driver if things got bad. She didn't even know where they were going. Her eyes alit on the GPS on the dashboard. There was a tiny dot blinking a few blocks away. "Is that where the base is?" she asked.

"It's where the smugglers went after we looted them. Should be the base." Julian didn't sound too concerned.

"May I ask what your plan is?" she asked finally.

"Are you going to assess us?" Amber asked. "Give us a grade and report back to your team?" The sarcasm was heavy in her voice. Aspen bit back a retort. She wasn't used to people talking to her like that. Whenever Tony or Clint gave her a hard time, she gave them a hard time right back. But they were friends. This girl…definitely not a friend though Aspen hoped she'd stop looking at her with such hostility.

"Cool it Amber," Corbin shot back. Amber glowered at him but closed her mouth.

"We'll park a block away and approach on foot," Julian said. "Amber will fry any security systems. Lily will gain access using her power." Aspen thought back to the training session she'd witness where Lily had simply vanished and reappeared. Handy ability. "Zane will incapacitate any agents while Corbin will deal with their weapons."

"What is it you do exactly?" Aspen asked.

"I can make things cave in on themselves. If I wanted to, I could turn a car into a circular piece of metal the size of a bowling ball."

"Wow."

"We're glad he's on our side," Callie said with a smile.

"Callie and I will be backup, making our way into their center. And you can come with us," he said. "Our goal is to incapacitate all the A.I.M. employees. Only use force if necessary. We _don't_ want another repeat of the bank."

"They deserved it," Amber said without feeling. Her eyes flashed at Aspen as if challenging her to say otherwise.

"Even so, we don't kill on principle," Julian said. "Even if these are the same people who have conducted experiments on people." Aspen wondered if he was secretly wanting to hurt them. She couldn't really blame him. They worked for the same organization as Stewart. A.I.M. had been directly involved with what had happened to her. _But Rinehart was worse and she worked for SHIELD_ _as well as Hydra,_ Aspen reminded herself.

The car slowed as Corbin pulled over to the curb. "Corbin you destroy anything they have down there that might be dangerous." Corbin nodded, cutting the engine. "Split up and meet at the old theater. That's where they're hiding."

His team dispersed from the car, Amber and Lily setting off together then Zane and Callie and finally Corbin. Julian turned to Aspen. "Shall we?" They started down the sidewalk, Aspen burying her hands in the deep pockets of her coat. "You're welcome to help us. We could use someone like you to help take them down. You can show me what you can really do," he said. There was something like curiosity glinting in his eyes only it looked hungrier than curiosity like he _needed_ to know what she could do.

"Sure," Aspen said. "I'll help." She didn't _need_ to use her powers to help after all. She was perfectly capable without them. "How many missions have you and your team been on?" she asked.

"About six?" Julian said. "Lily, Zane, and Callie are the newest to this. Corbin was the third one we found."

"We? I take it Amber has been with you for a long time."

"Since the start. We found each other. Amber had been through a lot. We'd had similar experiences with our powers. Amber had already learned to control hers though. We stuck together and she helped me control my own powers. We started gathering those like us a few years ago. Corbin was in trouble with the law when we found him. He took him under our wing. That's when we got the idea for the Elite. Corbin came up with that name. Amber had no interest in leading, so I fell into that role. We've been trying to help others with our powers, but it's a slow process. We were still learning how we could use them when we had our first mission. We stopped some muggers in an alley. We had no idea what we were doing, but those muggers ran screaming when they saw what we could do. It felt good."

"The saving people or the screaming part?" Aspen asked.

"The saving people of course," Julian said, smiling. "But I'll admit watching those jerks run felt good too. They were afraid of us. People who spend their lives making other people afraid were afraid of us now."

"Was the person you saved afraid of you too?" Aspen asked.

"He was unconscious. We took him to the hospital. He never knew who saved him. I know what you're thinking though. It's not just those we fight against who fear us. One day the world will come to learn that we're not something to fear. Not if they keep in line."

"And are we going to keep them in line or are you all right with the lawmakers we have now?" Aspen inquired.

Julian laughed. "There may come a day when things change, but for now I'm all right simply carrying out the law."

"Some might say that isn't our right."

"The world is changing. It isn't just humans anymore. The inhumans are trying to make a place for themselves and the humans don't really have the power to deny us."

"They might try. Not everyone understands us. Just because the Avengers are celebrities doesn't mean the rest of you are. It also doesn't mean they don't secretly fear us. We're always going to stand out as different. We can't blend in. We just have to pretend that our lives have some higher purpose."

"I believe they do."

"You believe we're Elite."

Julian looked away. "Not better than them. But more advanced, more evolved, yes. We can do things they've never even dreamed of. We have a higher potential."

"For what?"

"For making a difference in this world." Julian's speech grew more impassioned as he spoke. "We live in a world where people drop bombs for fun, where war is always the answer to any problem, where crime rates in some cities are so high that people are afraid to leave their houses. This world is broken and it needs to be fixed. The humans have had their chance. They're not ready for us yet, but when they are, we're here to make our mark on the world. To improve it. If we can evolve then so can they."

"And who's going to make those decisions? Who's going to change them? I'm starting to see that we all have very different ideas about this world even when we have so much in common. Even on my own team. No one agrees half the time yet we still have the same goals."

"It's now we go about achieving them that makes us different. I don't know who's going to lead us. I don't know who's going to change the world. Hopefully we can work together. Hopefully we have the same goal." His eyes searched her face, landing on the scar that ran down her cheek, so faint now that it could hardly be seen. Aspen never forgot it though even if she hardly saw it anymore. "We can stop the people out there who seek to hurt us. We can make sure no one else suffers as we did."

"There will always be mad people out there who care nothing for human life," Aspen said. "You can't change that."

"Maybe I can."

"Hydra tried to eliminate everyone who didn't fit their ideals and that would have led to millions of deaths."

"I'm not talking about killing anyone."

"Just hurting those who hurt us?"

Julian didn't reply. They'd reached the theater, and he stopped walking. "We'll continue this discussion later," he said. "Now we need to focus."

"Do you have comms or anything? How do you communicate with your team?" Aspen asked.

"We work together. We don't need comms," Julian said. "Watch and wait."

Aspen did watch as nothing apparent happened across the street. The old theater looked abandoned, the marquee missing most of the bulbs that had once lit it. Old movie posters were torn and unreadable along the front of the building behind shattered glass. The ticket booth was permanently abandoned. Aspen was surprised the building hadn't been bulldozed yet. She supposed it was the perfect cover for A.I.M. She wondered how long they'd been there and how they'd stayed so quiet. They wouldn't be quiet after Julian's team infiltrated them.

Suddenly there was a flash of lights and then everything went dim. Amber. "Security down," Julian said. "See?" He strode forward across the empty street, and Aspen hurried to keep up. She wondered how they would get in, but Julian walked straight up to the front doors and pushed them open.

"That's it? That's your secret entrance?" Aspen asked.

"Who said anything about secret?" Julian looked back at her over his shoulder. "They can't win so why shouldn't they know we're here?"

His confidence seemed cocky to Aspen, but she merely shrugged and followed. Lily was waiting for them in the lobby, and Aspen realized she must have unlocked the doors for them. She wondered how many of them had gained their powers through experimentation and how many had been born with them? She thought it might be tactless to ask them, so she kept her question to herself. The others joined them, coming from various doors.

"Took out two guards in one of the theaters," Zane said. "I don't think they have many people working for them with such few guards. And they're probably not expecting an attack."

"Callie and Amber, you take the rest of this floor. Zane and Corbin, you head downstairs with us. Lily, see if you can't find out what's going on down there."

Lily nodded and disappeared. Aspen followed the others toward a set of stairs leading down. Of course down. What secret base was ever above ground? They found themselves in a hallway made of cement with pipes running along the ceiling. It was freezing cold, and Aspen found herself shivering despite her warm coat. Julian seemed to be reserving his powers because he didn't warm them like he had when they'd been standing near the docks. Their footsteps echoed, and Aspen cringed before remembering that Julian didn't care about secrecy. It wasn't the usual cloak and dagger approach Aspen and her team preferred. Tony might like to make a show of his arrival and Hulk and Thor couldn't really help it but the rest of them preferred the quiet approach.

Aspen jumped about a foot as Lily appeared directly in front of them. "There's a load of equipment downstairs but no one's there," she said, biting her lip.

"What kind of equipment?" Corbin asked.

"I'm not sure," Lily said. "That's your department."

"Corbin was studying mechanics before he joined us," Julian explained.

"Part of why I joined. Too many people inventing things that should never have been dreamed up in the first place," Corbin said flatly.

"That sums up A.I.M. quite nicely," Aspen said bitterly.

"Asshole Inventor Menaces more like," Zane said under his breath.

"Can you sense anyone else?" Julian asked, turning to Aspen.

Under all their eyes, Aspen nervously felt out with her powers. Julian burned the brightest, and she realized this must be because of his powers – his body held more heat than the rest of them. She sensed the six inhumans and the two unconscious guards. She shook her head. "Either they abandoned ship already or they're cloaking themselves. Is it possible there's a sub-sublevel? They dig in deep these people."

"I couldn't find one," Lily said. "But I might have missed something."

"Show us the room you found," Julian requested and Lily turned and led them down a hall. There were other halls and doors, but Lily explained that they were just storage rooms for weaponry and excess equipment. There had been signs of living too – a bunkroom and a food storage room, but no people. Aspen kept her senses out, trying to pick up on someone, anyone else other than them.

"You need a handprint scan to open the door from either side," Lily told them when they reached a rounded metal door that looked too strong to open by normal means.

"Not a problem," Corbin said, stepping forward. Before their eyes the door trembled and then began to close in on itself like a pop can being crushed. Finally it fell to the floor, hardly bigger than a baseball.

"That's…effective," Aspen said, impressed.

"Thanks." Corbin gave her a smile and stepped into the room. The instant Aspen entered, her senses flared up. There was too much to take in all at once as if there had been a dampener keeping everything inside unreadable from the outside.

"They knew we were coming," Aspen said to the others who all turned to look at her questioningly. "They were counting on it."


	9. The Clashing of Heroes

**Author's Note:** I'm finally getting my writing back together after the holidays! There will be 4 or 5 more chapters in part one. I'm still working on the ending, but I should be finished soon! Thank you as always for reading!

* * *

 **8 – The Clashing of Heroes – February 6, 2015**

The back of the theater was dark and empty. Steve didn't believe for a moment that meant no one was guarding it. He stepped cautiously, keeping to the shadows.

" _Upstairs is clear,"_ came Nat's voice on their comm. _"Heading to the lobby."_

Steve tried the door, ready to kick it in if necessary but it was unlocked. He frowned. A.I.M. would never leave their backdoor unlocked unless it was a trap. "Backdoor was already unlocked. Be careful. This might be a trap _,"_ he said quietly into his comm.

" _How would they know we were even coming?"_ Clint asked.

"No idea." Steve entered the building, his eyes quickly adjusting to the dark

" _No security up,"_ Tony said. " _Something is off_."

" _Maybe they already cleared out?"_ Clint suggested.

It was unsettling to say the least, but they'd find out soon enough if the building had been abandoned. Steve met Natasha and Clint in the lobby. Thor joined them a moment later. "Check the theaters," Steve suggested. He took the one on the right, pushing the doors open to reveal red velvet seats leading down to a wide screen. The sconces on the wall were cracked and coated in stringy cobwebs. He walked past the seats noting the footprints in the dusty red carpeting. Someone had been here recently. The footprints merged with drag marks leading past the front seats. Steve pulled his shield off his back, positioning it on his left arm as he made his way slowly to the front of the theater. He saw booted feet first and then the bodies of two guards. He knelt down to feel their necks for a pulse and, finding one, looked around for an attacker. He didn't have time to pull up his shield before something pushed him straight off his feet sending him flying into the stage below the screen. His head hit the wood, but the helmet kept him from any further harm. He got to his feet quickly, looking for the source of the attack. A girl stepped from the shadows. She had sea-green eyes and wild blonde hair and he could see tattoos peeking out from the collar of her jacket. Right now she looked mortified.

"Who are you?" Steve demanded. She didn't look like someone who worked for A.I.M. but one could never be too careful.

"You're…you're not A.I.M.," the girl said shakily. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize… Are you here with your team?" Clearly she knew who he was but he still had no idea who she was.

"Why are _you_ here?" he countered.

"We're taking down this facility. I was standing guard. I didn't know who you were when I pushed you. I'm sorry."

"You pushed me? But how? You didn't even touch me." Even if she had, she was too small to do much damage.

"I'm inhuman," she told him. "I have powers. Did I hurt you?"

His head was throbbing a bit, but he pushed the pain aside. "I'm fine. You said you have a team here?"

She nodded. "I should warn the others. If there are more of you…"

" _We've got company,"_ Tony's voice interrupted, loud in Steve's ear. _"What the-?!"_ The comm burst in a stabbing static sound, and Steve ripped it out of his ear, nearly deafened. The girl looked frightened and hurried toward the lobby without another word. Steve followed, stopping short when he beheld the scene unfolding in front of him.

Tony was lying flat on his back, Iron Man suit splayed out and lifeless. "Tony!" Steve nearly rushed over to his friend, but the girl standing over Tony kept him frozen to the spot. Her hands were crackling with electricity, and her golden eyes told him not to move a step closer.

"Amber, don't you know who that is?" the blonde girl asked softly.

"I know exactly who it is," the girl said calmly. "And I know who _he_ is." She glared in Steve's direction. "I also know who sent them here."

"Sent us here? No one sent us here," Steve told her. "What did you do to him?" If she'd hurt Tony…

"Relax. All I did was turn off the electricity powering his suit."

"You have the power to do that?"

"You're not the only one with the power to harness energy," Thor said from where he stood across the room. "I should have seen the attack coming. I was caught off guard," he said apologetically to Steve.

"I don't think any of us saw it coming. Where are Clint and Natasha?"

"Downstairs."

Steve turned his attention back to the girl with the electricity at her fingertips. "You need to stand down. We're not your enemies here. We came to take down A.I.M. too."

"I know," she said calmly.

"Then we're on the same side," he said carefully, taking a slow step forward. The girl, Amber, raised her hands in warning. Steve stopped short.

"There are no sides. My team has got this covered. We don't need yours getting in the way."

"You said you thought you knew who had sent us here. What did you mean?" Steve asked.

"Your girlfriend. The girl with all the power. Who else?" There was resentment in Amber's tone though Steve thought it was sorely misplaced.

"I had no idea your team would be here," Steve told her. "I haven't spoken to Aspen since she left to meet Julian Grey."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why would I lie?" Steve asked. He didn't understand why she was still on the defense. "We're here to take down A.I.M.. We had no idea your team was already here."

"Yes, well, they all seem to be quite taken with your girlfriend."

"But you're not."

"She plays at being a hero but she's just as naïve as the newbies we take in off the streets. She doesn't know what she's doing, and I don't appreciate someone coming to my team and trying to tell us whether we're a threat or not."

"Aspen doesn't think you're a threat. She wants to prove that to her team, to the rest of us. She's the one who fought so hard for you guys after the bank incident. Aspen finds the best in everyone. Maybe it's naïve, but she also tends to bring out the best in everyone. Well, most people."

"If you want to see whether we're a threat or not then you shouldn't come crashing into our mission." She lowered her hands, the electricity vanishing. "Now's your chance to leave before you mess this up for us."

"Is Aspen here now?" Steve asked.

"By Julian's side," Amber said snidely. "Just like his new right hand."

"You're jealous," Steve realized suddenly. "Aspen didn't come her to take your place, you know."

"Maybe not, but Julian wants her to. He hunted her out at Stark's party after all. I built this team with him. Aspen isn't like us. She doesn't understand just what we've been through. All she got was a simple injection and then the power of her entire mind unlocked. Not exactly a sob story."

"So this is about who's suffered the most?" Steve asked. "Is that what this is about? I suppose you read the SHIELD file on her after it leaked on the internet. What wasn't in there was the part where she was kidnapped by a SHIELD psychologist who was working with Hydra, how that psychologist strapped her to a table and ran experiments on her, how she kept her prisoner and tortured her everyday trying to unlock the mystery of her powers, how at the very end she was ready to cut Aspen's head right open to see her brain, and how it haunts her every night, how she wakes up screaming because she thinks that horrible doctor is still standing over her with a scalpel. You think she hasn't suffered enough? We've all suffered. It doesn't make any of us better than anyone else."

Amber was silent. Everyone was silent, and Steve realized he probably shouldn't have said so much. But this jealousy was petty and right now they had bigger things to worry about.

"That wasn't in the file," Amber said finally. "I didn't know that."

"Then maybe you can power that suit back up and let us work with you to bring this facility down if we haven't already scared everyone away. We're not here to upstage you or to judge you. We're here because we have the same mission."

Amber didn't reply at once but then the electricity surged in her fingers again and she brought her hands down to Tony's suited chest. He jolted as power surged back into the suit. The eye's flickered on, and he sat up.

"That was unpleasant," he said, his voice slightly tinny from behind the mask. "Let's not do that again."

"Seems I was too quick in my judgment," Amber said. "Maybe Aspen was right about your team. Maybe you should see us as a threat after all."

"Like I said, we're not here to judge," Steve said. "If we had been the enemy then you would have had us at a disadvantage."

"Um, hello, how is this _not_ at a disadvantage?" Tony asked. Thor reached out a hand and tugged Tony to his feet. "Who _are_ you?" he asked viciously, pointing a finger at Amber. The girl didn't so much as flinch.

"I'm Amber and this is Calypso. Some might call us inhumans, but we call ourselves the Elite."

…

Aspen couldn't describe the _wrongness_ in the room, but something was very wrong. She turned in a circle, her senses overwhelmed by the surge she felt around her. It was like something was pressing down on her and her head started to throb. The others didn't seem to notice that anything was amiss.

"What's wrong?" Julian said. His usual calm cracked, and she could see genuine fear behind his eyes.

"I don't know," she whispered. The pain was beginning to overwhelm her. "There's something in this room that can subdue us all. I can feel it. They wanted us to come here."

"They didn't even know we were coming," Zane said.

"Yes they did. You sent the smugglers running back to report that we'd taken their weapons. Of course they expected us to come," Aspen said. "Whatever they were working on here had to do with inhumans." She looked around the room, but the bits and pieces of equipment didn't look particularly harmful. She picked up a schematic from where it lay under a piece of scrap metal. It depicted what appeared to be some sort of suit.

"That thing is designed to control energy," Corbin said, looking at the schematic from over Aspen's shoulder. He took the paper from her. "It channels the energy."

"What could that possibly be for?" Zane asked.

"For us," Julian said softly. "They've been creating suits for inhumans."

"Not just any inhumans." Corbin shuffled through more schematics. "Us specifically," he said.

Lily's eyes widened. "But how could they possibly know that much about us?"

"Someone betrayed us," Julian said. His words hung in the air, and Aspen felt as if she was intruding.

"Who would do that?" Zane asked. "We're a team. We look out for each other."

"I don't know, but I plan on finding out," Julian said. "First we need to focus on the mission on hand."

"Where are the actual suits?" Corbin asked, turning around. The room was filled with equipment, but they saw none of the suits depicted in the schematics."

"I think I can sense something below us," Lily said suddenly. "There's an open space. I didn't feel it before. I'm going to check it out."

"Wait!" But Lily had already disappeared and didn't hear Aspen's warning. "I don't like this. I can feel something… I think it's below us where she just went. It's like some sort of power-dampener."

"We have to go after Lily!" Corbin said. "How do we get down there?"

"I don't know." Aspen reached out her senses. It was as if something was pushing back, trying so hard to keep her from using her powers.

"She's not coming back," Corbin said as Lily's absence stretched on.

Aspen pushed back harder and broke through the barrier. "There." She reached forward and stretched her fingers under one of the counters. They brushed a button and she pressed it. The floor on the other side of the room moved aside revealing a staircase that spiraled downward.

"Oh fun," Zane said. "I love creepy, dark staircases that lead into an unknown abyss."

"After you," Aspen said to Julian. "But for the record this is a terrible idea."

Julian strode past her. "You don't have to come," he threw at her before descending the stairs. Zane and Corbin followed.

"I really hope you know how to fight without your powers," Aspen muttered. "Because you're about to find out what it's like to be normal."

…

Steve and the others caught up to Natasha and Clint in the basement of the facility. Clint was holding a bit of metal with a scrutinizing look while Natasha studied some schematics.

"Who are _they_ and where did they come from?" Clint asked, dropping the metal onto the table with a clank and scowling at Amber and Calypso.

" _They_ arethe ones who snuck past two super spies and took down my armor," Tony said sounding grudgingly impressed. The next moment he stepped out of his suit so he could survey the room without the metal enclosing him. The suit folded back together and stood as a sentry near the doorway.

"They're with the team Aspen went to meet," Steve added. "Seems we ended up with the same mission."

"These are new," Tony said looking down at the schematics that Natasha was holding. "These suits were designed to control people like you," he added, glancing at Amber and Calypso.

Amber bristled. "We're not meant to be controlled," she growled.

"Someone thinks you are," Tony said matter-of-factly. "This one's for you." He thrust a schematic at her. Amber took the paper, glaring down at it. "Someone knows exactly who you are and what you can do."

Amber turned her eyes on Steve. "Your girlfriend is the only one outside of the team who knows some of our powers."

"She wouldn't give information to A.I.M. and besides, she _just_ met you tonight. They've been planning these for some time," Steve said, annoyed by Amber's accusation.

"Let's not turn on each other again," Tony said, holding up a hand. "We need to work together on this. A.I.M. has definitely been up to no good."

"So where are they then?" Clint asked. "Is the rest of your team here? What about Aspen?"

"I don't know where they are. They were coming down here," Amber said.

"Something isn't right," Calypso said. Steve noticed she was looking pale. "I feel this…drain. My powers aren't working right."

The lights blinked as Amber tried to gather her power, but her electricity sparked weakly. "There must be some sort of dampener," Tony said. "To keep your powers at bay. Jarvis, run a scan on the room. See if you can pick up on anything or anyone," Tony spoke to his armor. Jarvis's voice emitted from it, startling the two Elite.

"I'm picking up on strong energy readings from below," the AI told Tony. "I believe there's a stairway leading down, but you'll need to find something to open it."

"Zane would be fangirling so hard right now if he was here," Calypso said to Amber.

"Help me find some sort of switch," Tony said. They started looking around the room. Steve ran his hand over the wall, his fingers coming away dusty despite the room being used.

"Here." Natasha was kneeling down by one of the tables. She pressed her finger to something on the underside of it and the floor in the corner of the room rumbled as it slide aside, revealing a spiral staircase that led down into darkness.

"Well that's…ominous," Clint said, peering down into the darkness. "They went down here?"

"Nowhere else to go." Steve slid his shield onto his back. "You two should stay here in case it's a trap," he told the two Elite.

"I'm not waiting here," Amber said unsurprisingly.

"You're no help to your friends if you get caught too."

"How could I get caught when I have the Avengers to protect me?" she asked, pushing past Steve and taking the stairs first.

"Is she always that charming?" Tony asked, looking as if he'd like to strangle the girl.

Calypso sighed. "She's not usually this bad. She and Julian haven't been seeing eye-to-eye lately. It's putting a strain on the team."

"Come on," Steve said. "We need to see what's down there. Thor, Tony, you stay up here in case it is a trap. We can't all be caught down there. We'll let you know what we find."

"We'll study the rest of the schematics," Tony said. "See if we can figure out just what they're trying to do."

Natasha and Clint followed Steve down the stairs, Natasha using her cell phone as a flashlight. They saw Calypso and Amber up ahead. Another hallway similar to the one above ran north under the building.

"How long has this been growing under our noses?" Steve asked.

"Sometimes they're the easiest ones to miss," Natasha told him.

"Did you have any idea Pen was going to be here?" Clint asked Steve, looking worried.

"No, I didn't. I just knew she was meeting up with Julian same as you."

"I don't trust them. Tony said they took down his suit?"

"Amber. She can control electricity," Steve said. "I don't think she meant any harm. She sees us as a threat to her team."

" _Us_ a threat?" Clint asked incredulously. "None of us can take down Tony's suit with our bare hands. Well, maybe you could, but that's some serious power."

"Keep up!" Amber called back to them. Clint rolled his eyes, but they picked up the pace. There was only one door at the end of the corridor and even Amber hesitated before it.

"Cap?" Clint asked, motioning for him to do the honors. Steve stepped forward. He doubted their arrival was going to be a surprise, so he kicked the door with all his might, sending it forward nearly off the hinges. Bright lights stabbed at his eyes as they entered a monolithic room.

"Ah, the others have arrived. Now my team will be complete," came a rasping voice from across the room. Steve lifted a hand to shade his eyes against the glaring lights. A.I.M. agents lined the room, weapons pointed straight at the Steve and the others. Steve's eyes moved to the four figures standing in the center of the room. Three boys and a girl were dressed in the same suits he'd seen in the schematics. They stood stiffly, eyes straight ahead as if they weren't aware of what was going on around them. Calypso gave a little gasp, and Steve guessed they were the rest of her team. Where was Aspen though?

As if in response, the rasping voice sounded again from behind the rest of the Elite. "Looking for someone, Captain?" The lights dimmed, and Steve could see clearer now. A gigantic computer screen loomed over the room. Instead of a desktop it had a realistic human face that seemed to come straight out of the screen. There was something macabre and hideous about the thing. Below it lay a body, and Steve could see red hair. "I didn't have a suit made up for her, so I'm afraid I had to put her to sleep for a little while. I'm afraid I'm going to have to do the same to you."

Steve felt a pressure on his mind. He struggled, pushing it back away from his subconscious. It reminded him of the gifted girl he, Sam, and Aspen had fought back in Madripoor. He realized the computer thing was attempting to control his mind. He pushed back harder and found it was all too easy to throw off the reaching pressure. Clint and Natasha seemed to be having a similar experience.

"Remember that time Aspen's mom injected us with that formula that would keep our minds safe from control?" Clint asked. "Back in Iceland."

"You think it's working?"

"I think it is."

Steve glanced at Natasha. She hadn't been there for that, but her face was calm. "It takes a lot more than that to control me," she said softly.

The computer screen frowned down at them. "I see you're not so easily controlled. Never mind then. I'll test my new soldiers on you then."

Steve tensed. Behind the Elite he saw a flicker of movement. Aspen was awake. She was clenching her knife in one hand, keeping still. She caught Steve's eye, her own eyes wide with surprise at his presence, but she made no move to get up.

"What are you?" Steve asked the computer, hoping to stall for time while he thought of a way to free the Elite without getting shot down by the A.I.M. agents first.

"Don't you mean who? I'm not just a computer, you know," the thing snarled. "This is only a temporary body until I can repair my old one. I am Modok and this is my facility. As of now you are trespassing. Prepare for extermination."


	10. MODOK

**9 – MODOK – February 6, 2015**

Aspen should have been prepared for what awaited them downstairs, but she wasn't a match for twenty A.I.M. agents with guns and a giant living computer that somehow had psionic powers. They had entered the dark room at the end of the hall, Aspen trying to reach out with her senses, but the power dampener was pressing down on her making it impossible to concentrate. Her teammates didn't seem to be feeling what she was, but perhaps that was because their abilities were not mental like hers. Then Julian attempted to use his powers to light the room. He frowned down at his hands, face pale in the dim light of Zane's cell phone.

"Your powers won't work," Aspen said. She tried to concentrate on the room without her powers. It felt open and wide, the air cool around her. The quiet whirring of equipment was the only discernable sound. Aspen held her breath, listening hard. There it was. The quiet shuffle of feet, the brush of fabric, the tapping of fingers on triggers. "We're not alone," she breathed. "This was a bad idea."

"We're not leaving without Lily," Corbin hissed at her. "This isn't your team, you can go back at any time, but we don't leave our team behind."

"I didn't say I was going anywhere," Aspen said. "But there are people with guns somewhere in this room."

"How do you know that?" Julian asked. "Are you powers not affected?"

"It's called training," Aspen told him.

"Very good," came a nasally voice from somewhere across the room. Aspen tensed and then winced as bright lights flooded the room a moment later. The lights were strained directly at them, and Aspen couldn't see past their brightness. Her retinas burned. Then the lights dimmed somewhat and though they were still scorched into her eyes, Aspen could see the rest of the room. Ten agents lined either side of the room, guns aimed straight at Aspen and the Elite.

"I told you this was a trap," she said.

"Lily." Corbin's voice turned her attention to the person standing at the back of the room. It was indeed Lily but there was something wrong. She was suited up in something similar to what they'd seen in the schematics upstairs. She stared straight ahead and seemed not to see them at all. Behind her was a giant computer screen. Aspen did a double take. The screen was a _face_. It leered down at them in a ghastly expression.

"Hello," it said. "I was waiting for you to come."

Aspen stared. "How could you possibly know we were coming?" she asked finally, addressing the computer screen.

"It doesn't matter how I know. It matters that I knew, and I was ready. If you would be so kind as to put on the special suits I made for you…" Vacuum hose arms reached out from the computer, and Aspen took a step back. To her surprise the others stepped forward at his command.

"What are you doing?" she asked, snagging Julian's sleeve. He ignored her, pulling away. They walked straight toward the three arms holding the three suits similar to Lily's. She didn't dare try to stop them as they geared up leaving her standing alone.

"I can't control your mind," the computer said, it's digital face screwing up in frustration. "Why can't I control you?"

"You can't control me because I'm immune to mind control," Aspen told it. "No one controls me."

"Then perhaps I'll test out my new soldiers' skills on you," the computer said. "Inhumans, attack her!"

Aspen tensed as the Elite turned to face her. Their eyes were emotionless and as she watched them, Lily disappeared. Aspen ducked a second before Lily's arms reached out to grab her from behind. Something warm flashed past Aspen's face and one of Julian's fireballs hit the wall behind them. She saw Zane looking at her and remembered his powers. She lunged at him, slamming him into the floor and knocking a fist into his head before he could act. "Sorry," she said before leaping away from Julian's next round of fireballs. There was a groaning of metal and part of the pipework above them crumpled and fell straight toward Aspen. She dove out of the way, hitting the cement floor hard. Dazed, it took a moment for her to scramble to her feet. Something hit her hard in the chest, driving her back into the floor. Lily knelt over her, knee digging into Aspen's stomach.

"You need to fight this," Aspen told her. "He's controlling you!"

Lily's eyes were blank. Aspen grabbed her wrists and threw her off. Julian sent another fireball at her head, and Aspen leapt aside. This time the fireball hit the computer where it fizzled against the screen.

"Careful!" it whined, face contorted in pain. Aspen wondered if it could feel pain or if it just had a flair for the over dramatics. Either way an idea was forming in her head. She stood in front of the screen, out of reach of the tentacle like arms.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Your aim is a little off!" Julian rounded on her, sending off a shot of fire. Aspen dropped and the fire hit the screen straight on. This time it cracked.

"Stop!" the computer screamed. Julian and the others dropped their hands and stood still. "Restrain her!" it ordered. Lily appeared right behind Aspen, tugging her arms behind her. Aspen struggled, but the girl was gripping her too hard. Corbin strode up to her and raised a fist. When he brought it down on her head, she saw stars. Lily dropped her to the floor. Aspen wasn't fully unconscious, but she shut her eyes and pretended to be out. Anything to save her head from another bashing.

"Good, good. This is working out better than expected. Now I just need the rest of your friends."

Aspen's mind was working. Amber and Callie would eventually find them. It was only a matter of time. With the dampener interfering, Amber wouldn't be able to use her powers to cut off the computer's energy. Aspen needed to do something to warn them, but she had no way of contacting them. She wouldn't make it across the room. The minutes stretched on until the computer said, "Ah, the others have arrived. Now my team will be complete."

Now as Aspen lay on the floor as the computer who called itself Modok ordered the Elite after her team and the remaining inhumans, Aspen pulled her knife from her pocket. She needed to make sure that Modok couldn't assert his mind control over Amber and Callie. The others moved to attack Aspen's teammates while Amber and Callie stood looking powerless. Aspen could see the frustration on Amber's face. The Elite relied on their powers while the Avengers were trained in combat. Aspen could do without her abilities. As Modok screeched commands to the Elite under his control, Aspen moved toward the screen. The A.I.M. agents were all facing the fight, guns at their sides. A computer needed a power source. If she could cut the source then she could sever the mind control and put Modok out of commission. Perhaps not permanently but long enough to free the Elite. She was hoping it would take out the power dampener as well. Corbin's power could render the A.I.M. agents' weapons useless.

She didn't even have time to wonder just what Steve, Natasha, and Clint were doing here. Were Tony and Thor with them too? Had one of them followed her after all?

Several cords ran from the computer into the wall, and Aspen moved toward them, her knife clenched in determined hands. A blast of fire hit the wall a few inches away from Aspen's face. She ducked down, but it was just an errant blast of fire meant for Clint. The Avengers were defending themselves and trying as hard as they could not to hurt the Elite. The Elite, however, were raining down an attack on the three Avengers with no qualms about hurting them – at least in their mind-controlled state. Clint ducked and weaved as Julian pursued him with fire. Natasha had Lily pinned down, and Steve intervened as Corbin charged Natasha. She turned back to the cords. Reaching up, she began to saw at the closest one. She felt the tiniest jolt of electricity as the knife severed the cord. Nothing else happened so she grabbed the next cord and began to cut through it. Somehow Modok felt that because the second the knife slipped through the wiring, he screeched. One of his tentacle like arms reached for her, and Aspen felt metal clamp around her middle. She grabbed the last cord as he tried to drag her away, but her fingers slipped off of it.

"Clint!" she shouted. "Shoot the cord!"

Whatever Clint was doing, he must have stopped to shoot because the next second an arrow sliced straight through the last cord. The arm went slack and the computer screen dimmed until it was blank. Aspen fell to the floor in a heap.

"Aspen!" she heard Steve's voice and felt his arms around her a second later, pulling her to her feet. "Are you all right?"

"Just a bit battered." Aspen turned to see if the mind controlled Elite were back to themselves. Natasha was still holding down Lily who looked surprised and disoriented. Zane was still unconscious, Julian was looking horrified, and Corbin was clenching his fists. A second later all the guns in the room crumpled. The A.I.M. agents cried out as their weapons were rendered useless. One of them dashed toward the computer as if to try to restart it, but Clint sent an arrow his way and a net burst from the end, trapping the agent where he stood.

"We accept your surrender," Clint told the rest of the agents. No one argued.

…

"Some mess your friends made back there," Tony said as Clint piloted the Avenjet back to Avengers Tower.

"It wasn't their fault. It was a trap," Aspen said. "Someone knew they were coming. Which brings me to the question of how you came to be there," she added, looking around at her team. "This was supposed to be my mission but you came crashing in to save the day. I'll be lucky if any of the Elite talk to me again. They probably think I called you in."

"They did," Tony said. "At least electric girl said as much. After she fried my suit. Anyway, taking down an A.I.M. base wasn't your mission. Your mission was to infiltrate these guys and make sure they were on the level. I'm not so sure I'm convinced they are."

Aspen sent him a glare. "Why?"

"Like you said, someone knew they were coming. Who else would have known other than their own teammates?"

"You're suggesting someone _in_ the Elite tipped off A.I.M.?" Aspen asked.

"They had those suits ready made," Natasha put in. "A.I.M. has known about these guys for awhile now."

"Had anyone ever heard of Modok before?" Steve asked. Everyone shook their heads. "What he did – if he was even a person at any point – it was similar to Zola. He'd basically had his mind preserved in a computer."

"He definitely thought and spoke like a real person," Aspen said. "He seemed to be in charge."

"He did say his other body had been damaged. Did he mean his real body?" Steve pondered.

"I have a feeling he's not gone," Aspen said. "Not if he can switch bodies through technological devices."

"How could he control minds anyway? He had those kids completely under his control."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of mind-controlling computers one bit," Clint said. "Thank your mom again for that serum."

"Seems A.I.M. has been up to more than we thought," Tony said.

"You knew that they were here?" Aspen asked.

"Natasha has been spying on them for awhile. That's why we were there tonight. Not to spy on you."

Aspen turned her eyes on Natasha as the redheaded spy spoke. "I knew they were building something, but I didn't know what. I overheard that they were getting a shipment of weapons in tonight and thought it was time we moved in. We had no idea the Elite were on the same mission."

"Well, admittedly you guys did save us. Without their powers they had no idea what to do with themselves."

"Is there a thank you hidden under all that?" Tony asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Aspen fixed him with a look. "You completely showed them up and made them feel like a bunch of amateurs," Aspen told him.

"That's exactly what they are," Tony defended.

"No one wants to hear that to their face. Especially from Tony Stark."

"Well, what was I supposed to tell them? Good effort? Here's a ribbon for trying?"

"Hey," Steve interrupted. "That's not helping." His blue eyes switched between the two of them, and Aspen sighed and backed down.

"You're right. Sorry, Tony. I just want to believe that they're good kids. I do think they are. Tonight was a disaster, but we got the bad guys in the end and nobody got really hurt." Lily had been pretty shaken and though Julian and the others had masked it better, Aspen had seen a definite crack in their confidence. It didn't help that there was a possibility of a mole in their group. Aspen couldn't imagine not trusting her own teammates.

"They might not run like an oiled machine, but they're not the villains. I'll give them that," Tony said.

"How generous of you," Aspen said dryly. "They just need a little guidance. A mentor."

"You?" Tony asked.

"Maybe. Or all of us. Shouldn't we be role models?"

"If you want to spend your time training newbies, be my guest. I have other things to worry about right now," Tony said. "Like what happened to that weapons shipment? We searched the entire building and there were no weapons save the ones already there."

"The Elite took them," Aspen said. "Corbin was going to use his ability to destroy them."

"And what was his ability exactly?" Tony asked.

"He can basically crumple things like metal into tiny balls."

"Like what he did with the guns," Clint interjected.

"Exactly."

"How do we know he'll do it?" Tony asked. "How do we know they're not keeping the weapons for themselves?"

"Because they don't use weapons. They _are_ weapons. Those kids don't know the first thing about fighting. You should have seen Amber's face when she couldn't use her powers. They don't know how to use weapons, just their powers. I can make sure they do destroy them if you don't trust them," she added.

"Good idea."

"Let's just give them the time they need to recover," Steve said, pushing into the conversation before Aspen and Tony could start up another argument. "Their team took a hit. No one just gets over having their mind controlled."

"Fine, we wait," Tony conceded. "But if I get one whiff of those weapons, we're going in."

"I swear I didn't know you were there tonight," Steve said as he and Aspen alighted from the jet back at the tower.

"I know. How could you?"

"I trust you, and I think you did the best you could tonight. You saved those kids from being turned into A.I.M. weapons."

"With a little help. You know it's funny, just this morning we were staging an argument just so I could get their attention because they were this aloof, mysterious group and I felt like I had to prove something to them, but tonight… Tonight I realized how much more experienced I am. Even more than Amber and Julian who have had their powers longer than me. It wasn't just about powers. I don't rely on my powers to get me through a mission. I know I have to rely on instinct and skill too. They're not soldiers or spies, they're just a bunch of kids with superpowers who think they have a greater mission in life. They need to learn that there are threats out there that go beyond any power they might possess. Fortunately for them they do work together as a team and there's so much potential there. They just need someone to guide them. I'm not sure they trust or respect me enough to let me mentor them…"

"I think you helped save them tonight and that counts for something."

"You don't think they've completely lost their trust in me?"

"You're the one who figured out how to break the mind control. They'll remember that," Steve told her.

It was past midnight when they finally fell into bed, exhausted by the day's events. Aspen curled into Steve's side, still achy and raw from the attack. Aspen felt like she could sleep for a week, but she knew this wasn't over. There were still missing pieces and loose threads, and she was too curious not to pick at them.


	11. Enemy of My Enemy

**Author's Note:** I'm finally nearly done writing part one, so I'll start posting more frequently. I've got a fun little twist at the end here. Okay, we'll it's not fun for all my characters. I'm hoping to write part two and three faster. At least by the time Civil War comes out so I can start writing that as soon as I see it. Part two is really going to focus on the Avengers and them working together as a team. I want to develop relationships, maybe actually show how certain relationships begin *coughbruceandnatashacough*. Anyway, thank you again for reading!

* * *

 **10 – Enemy of My Enemy – February 8, 2015**

True to his word, Tony didn't try to intervene with the Elite in the next few days. He kept to the lab, and Steve and Aspen saw little of him. Aspen had been quiet and though Steve was bursting with questions over her experience, he didn't ask. She'd tell him when she was ready or perhaps she was protecting the Elite. He realized she had been the one they'd come to, the one they'd trusted and opened up to. He didn't really have a right to know their secrets even if he meant them no harm. Aspen hadn't heard a word from the Elite since the incident at the A.I.M. facility, and Steve knew Aspen was worried they really had stopped trusting her.

"It wasn't your fault," he told her. "You didn't ask us to come."

"Doesn't matter. Some of them probably still think I did."

"Maybe they've figured out that they're way in over their heads," Clint suggested, entering the lounge.

"And what were we when we took on the Chitauri three years ago?" Aspen asked him.

"SHIELD agents. And an Asgardian god, a Super Soldier, and a billionaire genius."

"And a rage monster who couldn't really control his rage up until the end and a smuggler who had no idea what she was doing. We didn't work well together. Not up until the very end."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that they just need a chance. They'll gain experience just like we did."

"Last night would have been a disaster if we hadn't showed up," Clint told her. "You might not be here now, and we'd have a team of inhumans running around on some freak computer's orders."

"We weren't expecting the mind control or the power dampener. How could we?" Aspen defended.

"I'm not saying it's your fault. It's just no one on that team has real experience. They're just running around flinging their powers and hoping they hit the bad guys."

"No experience? What about getting experimented on by Stewart or people like him? That isn't experience?" Aspen asked, her tone getting lower as she got angry. Steve sighed inwardly. It was either the silent treatment or arguing since they'd become aware of the inhumans. "You call living on the run terrified that you're going to hurt someone because you can't control these powers you didn't want not real experience?"

"I just meant they don't know what it means to take the law into their hands," Clint told her irritably.

"Then we teach them. Although I'm not sure why we have any more of a right to be taking the law into our hands. We're not exactly following anyone's rules but our own. I know that's always kind of been Tony's style, but if we're going to hold ourselves up to higher standards then we need to be able to justify ourselves."

"You could have been killed," Clint told her. Steve could hear the underlying pain in his voice. Even though he'd been the one telling Steve he needed to let Aspen do this three days ago, the result hadn't been what he wanted. "And then who would have been accountable for that? We look out for each other, but they can't even look out for themselves. We take responsibility for our actions, but I don't see them trying to make up for their mistakes."

"You mean they're not over here begging for your forgiveness?"

"They're not heroes. I'm not saying they can't be, but right now they don't even understand what that word means. You're so determined to prove that they aren't a threat yet you nearly died on a mission with them."

"It wasn't their fault," Aspen insisted. "It could have happened to us too."

"Trap wasn't set for us. What are you trying to prove?" Clint asked her. "Why is it so important to you that we see these kids as heroes?"

"Because I'm like them," Aspen shouted. "Because I don't have a super power. Not really. I'm not as good at fighting as Natasha or as good at shooting as you. I'm not as courageous as Steve or as smart as Tony. I'm not as kind as Bruce or as strong as Thor. I'm just me and I know that's enough for all of you but maybe it's not enough for me. I don't know if I have what it takes to be a hero because half the time I have no idea what I'm doing. I feel like I'm just tagging along. I understand these inhumans. I understand their pain and their fear and their desperation to prove that they can be something more than a monster, that they can help people instead of hurting them. I understand what it's like to have something you don't want forced on you and to be told that it's a gift and not a curse when you just want to go back to being normal even if normal means you aren't super or a hero. I don't have a right to be a hero if they don't get the chance to try to be heroes too."

"You really don't think you're a hero?" Clint asked after Aspen's words had hung in the air for a few moments. Steve wanted to reach out to her, but he wasn't sure she wanted to be comforted right now.

"I don't know what I am," Aspen said. "I don't know how the world sees me, I don't know how my team sees me…I don't know how I see me."

"Why did you join this team?" Clint asked her.

Aspen narrowed her eyes at the question but answered, "I wanted to help people."

"Why?" Clint persisted.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"And?"

"And it feels good to help people. I might as well do something useful with that serum. Also," she hesitated, "I feel like I fit in here. The world wouldn't understand me but here no one questions me. You just accept me for who I am."

"Because we care about you. I think, I _know_ , everyone on this team sees you as a hero whether or not you see yourself as one. I mean you're dating the world's first superhero, and I'm pretty sure he thinks you're a hero."

"This isn't about me," Aspen protested.

"No, it's about the Elite and whether or not we can accept them and give them a chance to be heroes, and you think if we can't do that then we also can't see you as a hero. You relate to them, but Aspen, you've been a part of this team since it started whether you acknowledge it or not. You might be like them but you have different experiences too. I've watched you grow, watched you turn from a neglected, untrusting smuggler to a confident, strong Avenger. You have good judgment and if you think these kids are worth helping, worth turning into heroes, then I'm with you." Clint reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. "All I could see two days ago was you hurt. They'd dragged you into that mess, and you paid the price. But that wasn't fair of me. You went with them because you used your judgment and decided it was a worthy mission and that they were worth helping. I can't protect you from every threat, and I shouldn't. You can handle yourself."

"Sometimes I feel like the expectations are so high," Aspen said. "For me, for anyone aspiring to be like the Avengers. The Elite are just trying to use their powers for good. A.I.M. found a way to exploit them. We can't let that happen again. But we also can't just mark everyone who isn't an Avenger off as not a hero."

"I was too quick to judge," Clint conceded. "We all were."

"Tony's never going to give them a second chance."

"If they can show him they're trustworthy and responsible then he might. Starting with those weapons. Have you heard anything about that?"

"Not yet. What was Tony planning on doing with them anyway?" she asked. "I mean before he knew the Elite had already taken them?"

"I didn't ask," Clint said.

Steve narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. What _did_ Tony plan on doing with them if they were the ones to recover the weapons? "He's trusting them to destroy them," he added. "I hope he would have done the same thing."

"Or study them. He likes to study everything whether it's dangerous or not," Aspen said. "Like those suits made for the Elite." She was clearly still sore with Tony for walking over the Elite. He knew Tony's ego rubbed Aspen the wrong way even if the two usually turned it into a playful banter. Sometimes Aspen had enough.

"It's not just his decision," he assured her. "We're a team. Tony might think he's running things, but he doesn't make decisions on his own."

"Maybe someone should tell _him_ that." Aspen's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket to read the message. Her face turned into a frown. "Bad news," she said. She looked up at them. "Some of the weapons went missing."

"What do you mean missing?" Clint asked.

"I mean they were counted and then before they could be destroyed some of them went missing."

"Only their team knew about those weapons besides us," Steve said. "Someone inside isn't playing for their team."

"The same person who let A.I.M. know all about them?" Clint asked.

"I didn't meet all of them," Aspen said, furrowing her brow. Steve knew she was analyzing all the interactions she'd had with the Elite over the last few days. "Corbin was going to destroy them. Julian says he destroyed what was left but half a dozen of the weapons disappeared."

"Maybe not everyone knew they'd been counted," Clint said. "Smart move on Grey's part to count."

"It was Amber's idea actually," Aspen said. "I can only guess she didn't trust us."

Clint snorted. "That kid has got trust issues."

"Can you blame her?"

"Maybe not, but still. If we wanted the weapons we'd just take them not superspy our way in and steal half a dozen."

"What could they stand to gain by stealing weapons?" Steve asked. "If Julian isn't behind this."

"They don't need weapons," Aspen told him. "They have abilities that can do a lot more than bullets."

"So if they don't need the weapons to use could they sell them?" Clint suggested.

"It's possible. Rogue groups would buy them. Who doesn't want A.I.M. weapons hot out of the factory?" Aspen asked. "They could be in Hydra hands right now or some terrorist group."

"Not exactly a comforting thought. Is Julian questioning his people?" Steve asked.

"He says he's questioned all of them and they all denied any knowledge of this. Of course they would, and Julian doesn't want to point fingers. Their group is built on trust."

"You've got to go back in," Clint told Aspen.

"What? Why? They don't trust me at all," Aspen said.

"But you have the ability to figure out who's lying. Remember in New York when Hydra was trying to take down the SHIELD base there and you could sense who was Hydra just by the feelings coming off of them?"

"I've never tried to be a human lie-detector though," Aspen said, sounding doubtful.

"You always doubt yourself, but you can do anything, Pen. Try believing in yourself. You're an Avenger. You can figure this out."

"He's right," Steve told her. "You're more than capable. If one of us goes in then they'll clam up, but I'm sure there's still some trust in you. At least Julian trusts you otherwise he wouldn't have told you this. He would have just said the weapons were destroyed."

"You're right. We need to keep this from Tony for now though," Aspen said. "He'll just fly off the handle and never give them a second chance. He'd just see them as irresponsible despite all the irresponsible decisions he's made in his lifetime."

"We'll keep him occupied," Clint said. "In the meantime you can do your own investigation."

"I hope it's just someone trying to make a buck," Aspen said. "They're not bad kids."

"Even good kids make mistakes," Clint said. "How do you think I ended up picking pockets at the carnival when I was a kid?"

Aspen typed back a reply to Julian. "Okay. I told him I'll come and try to help him figure this out. He at least seems happy for my help."

"Just be careful who you trust," Clint warned her.

She gave him a small smile. "That's a lesson I've learned well," she said. "In the meantime, try researching Modok. I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of him."

"That thing was creepy," Clint said. "Like was it a computer or was it a person who looked like a computer?"

"Zola was like that when Nat and I found the old SHIELD base in New Jersey," Steve said. "His mind had been preserved in a data bank. He basically talked through a computer."

"Creee-py," Clint emphasized.

"We should also look into why A.I.M. had those weapons," Steve suggested.

"Were they just running low or did they have a higher purpose for them?"

"Right."

"Sounds like you two have this," Aspen said, glancing down at her phone. "Julian's at the curb. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Clint and Steve echoed.

…

Aspen stepped down from the curb and got into the black SUV waiting there. Julian was behind the wheel looking exhausted. The usual pompous twinkle in his eyes was gone, and Aspen realized he would be taking this betrayal hard.

"Thanks for coming," he said. "This whole recruiting you thing isn't going quite how I expected."

"Well I think we both know I'm not going anywhere. But I think your team has a lot of potential. Let's not let one bad seed ruin the lot."

"I don't understand why one of them would do this."

"Who knows why people do anything? If we knew that then we might be able to understand Hydra a little better. We think things through, not everyone does. To Hydra, their actions are perfectly justified where we see monsters."

"Are you comparing us to Hydra?" Julian asked wryly.

"Of course not. Bad example. I'm just saying that whoever it was probably thought they had the best of intentions even if it looks bad to the rest of us. It doesn't mean what they did was right. It doesn't mean they had good intentions at all. It just means we can't just jump to conclusions. There might be a perfectly logical explanation."

"Everyone was surprised when I told them weapons were missing. No one understood why any of us would need them."

"Maybe whoever it was sold them. You guys don't exactly live in luxury. Maybe they thought they were doing you a favor."

"Will you be able to figure out who stole them?" Julian asked.

"Maybe. I can sense things about people. Emotions, anxiety."

"There are rumors about you being able to get inside one's mind."

"I consider that an invasion of privacy. I don't do that," Aspen said, looking out the window.

"But you have."

"Twice. Once when I didn't know how invasive it would be and the second time when I lost control. Neither time was pleasant." And then there was the time she'd attacked Bucky's mind before she'd known the Winter Soldier's true identity. That had been self-defense, but she had never forgotten what it had felt like to invade his mind.

"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose control," Julian said. "I might play at being leader of my little group but I've made plenty of mistakes along the way."

"We all make mistakes. That's what makes us stronger. We learn from them and we sympathize with others who make them. Your team looks up to you. Even Amber."

Julian chuckled at this. "She'll come around to you," he said.

"What's her story? I mean, you don't have to tell me anything personal, but how did you come to work together?"

"We found each other when we were both lost and alone. She taught me everything I know."

"But she's not leader?"

"No, she doesn't like the spotlight," Julian said. "She prefers to give advice and observe. All the newbies are terrified of her, so it helps keep them in line."

"I can imagine."

Julian pulled over at the factory that housed the Elite, but he made no move to get out of the car. "Before we do this, there's something you should know," he said.

"That sounds ominous."

"You should know the real reason why I tried to recruit you." Aspen turned to face him, giving him her full attention. "You'll think less of me when I've told you," he added.

"I'm not here to judge."

"After I discovered my powers that day I burned down my girlfriend's house with her and her parents in it, I was approached by someone. I think you already know who. Peter Stewart said he could cure me. I realized pretty quickly how naïve I was to trust him. He had no interest in curing me just figuring out how to replicate my powers. The pain I went through…when I thought nothing could equal the pain I'd felt before when the house went up in flames…well, I was wrong. When I met Amber she helped me control my powers, learn to use them. It gave me a purpose, made me realize there might be some place for a person like me in this world. I wanted to make sure that no one ever had to suffer at the hands of Stewart as I did. I was going to confront him, but you beat me to it." Something passed across his face, but it was gone a moment later. Julian continued. "I realized that even with Stewart gone, there were still people out there carrying out his work. I realized it was a bigger job than we were ready for. I learned about you. That you had also suffered at Stewart's hands. I learned about your abilities and thought, that is the kind of ally I need to take down A.I.M. once and for all. So I tried to recruit you. I wanted to use you for your powers. It was wrong of me and I realize now that all I needed to do was ask for your help and you would have given it."

"The need for revenge can bring out the worst in us. Trust me, I know," Aspen told him. "You were just doing what you thought you had to do. But you're right. All you had to do was ask." She opened her door. "So are we doing this or what?"

Julian gave her a rare smile and got out of the van. "Thank you for understanding," he said.

"We have a lot in common," Aspen said. "That helps us understand each other."

They walked inside the warehouse together, and Aspen felt the chill from the cement enclosure chilling her to the bone. "We can't exactly pay electricity, so I warm the place," Julian said as Aspen shivered and rubbed her arms. A warmth began to spread from Julian and the room started to warm.

"I'm kind of jealous of your power," Aspen said. "I've created fire before, but it came with very bad results so I tend to steer clear of that."

"Fear only limits us. You can't be in control if you're afraid of your powers," Julian told her.

"A friend once told me the same thing. He was right."

"Was he your mentor?" Julian asked.

"Yeah, he was," Aspen said. "I would never have learned to control my abilities without him. Can't Amber power this place up with her powers?"

"It would draw too much attention. We do power up some smaller things, but we try to avoid calling attention to the building."

"What's she doing here?" a voice called out, startling Aspen. Amber stood across the room, the only Elite in sight besides Julian.

"She's here to help."

"We can handle our own problems. This isn't any of her business," Amber said, crossing her arms.

"You can deal with me or you can deal with an angry Iron Man and Asgardian god. Your choice," Aspen said, growing weary of Amber's hostility.

Amber glared at her for a moment longer before shrugging. "I guess you're a better choice," she said. "We've already got enough ego in here without Tony Stark."

"Was that a joke?" Aspen asked, surprised.

Amber lifted an eyebrow. "So what exactly are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm hoping I can sense whoever is lying," Aspen said. "I can sense emotions and someone who's trying to hide something will be nervous."

"The sooner we sort this out the better," Amber said with a sigh. "Come on. I'll take you to the others."

Amber led the way and Julian fell into step behind Aspen. She felt as if she were being introduced to some sort of secret lair as they walked deeper into the warehouse. They ended up in a spacious room that was clearly where the Elite spent their free time. A worn sofa sat against one wall across from a mixture of chairs and there was an old TV and a space heater that sent off a low hum of electricity. The other Elite looked up as Amber and Julian entered the room. All eyes went to Aspen though. She saw several friendly smiles like from Corbin and Zane. Callie looked surprised and Lily suspicious. The others were here too looking at Aspen with wide eyes as if they knew exactly who she was.

"Elite, this is Aspen Tolvar. She's here to help get to the bottom of the missing weapons issue," Julian introduced. "She has abilities that will help us find out the truth. This team is supposed to be built on trust, but one of you has betrayed that trust. We're going to find out who right here and right now. If any of you would like to speak up now, things will go a lot more smoothly for you. We will find out though and it won't be pleasant for you if we have to pry it out of you."

His words hung in the air and some of the junior Elite looked at each other nervously. No one questioned his words though nor Aspen's involvement. No one confessed either.

"Line up and we're going to question you one by one."

"We've already been through this," one of the boys across the room called out. "I didn't even know about the weapons at all."

"Then you'll be proven innocent most likely," Julian said flatly. "But you get in line with the rest of your team." The boy stood sullenly, joining the line that was beginning to slowly form.

Julian turned to Aspen. "Please," he said, motioning for her to step forward.

Aspen felt just as nervous as the kids standing in line – and some of them were kids, hardly older than fourteen. She tried to smile at them but found her lips wouldn't move. Instead she focused on the task at hand, extending her abilities and feeling for emotions. It wasn't getting in their minds – she wouldn't put any of them through that – it was simply sensing the emotions they exuded. Nervous tension filled the air, however, and it was difficult to separate the feelings. Aspen focused harder. She worked her way to the end of the line where the younger Elite were lined up.

"Relax," she told them. "If you're innocent then you have nothing to be worried about. I'm not going to hurt you. I can sense your emotions and right now you all feel like you've cheated on a test or stolen some candy."

They laughed nervously, but she felt some of the tension lift. "Do you really know Iron Man?" one of the boys asked.

"Of course she does. She's an Avenger!" the girl next to him said. Aspen felt the mood lift even more.

"I'll let you in on a little secret," she said. "He's a total lightweight when it comes to hard alcohol and on his birthday this year we got him to sing a One Direction song into the karaoke machine. I got the whole thing on my phone."

There was more laughter, and suddenly she could feel separate emotions. The younger Elite weren't hiding anything. "You guys can sit down," she told them, moving down the line. She motioned to them as she went until it was just the team that had been on the mission. She bit back her discomfort and guilt as she faced them.

Now no one was smiling at her. "I'm just here to learn the truth," she said. "I haven't told the Avengers yet. Well, not Tony anyway. He'd be here in full armor if he knew, so just be glad it's me instead."

"Well I don't have anything to hide," Callie said, looking around at her teammates and stepping forward. Her sea-eyes were wide and honest as she looked at Aspen. Aspen reached out and touched the emotions that hung around Callie like a cloud.

"You're right. Thank you," Aspen said. She was relieved when Lily stepped up next, giving Aspen a small smile.

"I trust you," she said simply, and Aspen felt a rush of gratitude. She felt a note of surprise coming from Amber and then a grudging respect. Aspen hid her smile and reached out to read Lily. There was an underlying sorrow that lay around her, but Aspen could sense it had nothing to do with the present situation. Instead of digging deeper, she let go.

"Thank you," she told Lily. The girl nodded and stepped back.

To Aspen's surprise, Amber stepped forward next. "We're all on this team. We all get the same treatment," she said simply. Aspen knew this was a big step for the prickly girl and she nodded her thanks.

She could sense a lot of emotions hanging around Amber. For someone so stoic, she had a lot on her mind. She'd simply learned to hide it around others. She didn't trust others with her emotions, but she was trusting Aspen right now. Aspen focused. There was nothing nervous there, nothing guilty. Unless she'd learned to hide that, but Aspen didn't think she was behind this.

"All clear," Aspen said. Amber stepped back and Julian took her place. He gave her a cocky smile. Julian's emotions were intense and a little overwhelming. It took Aspen a minute to sort them out. There was frustration that he hadn't been able to figure this out on his own, anger toward whomever had put his team in this position. Then there was this deeper feeling that hung in the background. Aspen didn't mean to go that deep, but she found herself drawn in. She felt like she was drowning in it. Suddenly she felt hot as if something was burning away at her mind. She realized she'd gone too deep – only she hadn't entered into Julian's mind. The emotions clinging to him were pulling her in, burning her as she went. She summoned all her strength and pulled out. Julian was still smiling at her, but there was something in his eyes that left her feeling unsettled. She couldn't put a finger on the emotion she'd felt.

"You passed the test," she said, trying not to show how uneasy she was. As he moved away and Corbin replaced him, Aspen put a finger on the emotion. Hatred. Toward Stewart or someone else, she wasn't sure, but it had been a burning, deep hatred that was destroying him from the inside. It was how she'd felt toward Doctor Rinehart when she'd been alive. It was the same hatred that hadn't allowed her to stop Bucky – as the Winter Soldier – from killing her.

Corbin passed as well and then it was Zane who was left. She almost didn't pick up on his nerves as Julian's darkness threatened to overwhelm her again. But it was there. Zane was smiling easily at her, his posture relaxed, but he was afraid.

"Zane, why did you join this team?" Aspen asked him.

His smile wavered. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Why did you join the Elite? Did your parents reject you after you were injected with that serum that gave you your ability?"

"No, but they also tried to hide me away from the world. I wanted to show them that I could be someone."

"You said you were recovering from an injury the night of the bank robbery," Aspen told him. "Where were you really?"

"I have no idea what you mean!" Zane said, growing irritated, trying to hide his fear.

"I just don't understand why you would sell weapons to the enemy," Aspen said. She could read him clearly now. She didn't have to enter his mind to see the truth.

Julian tensed behind her. The younger Elite looked torn between fascination and horror. "Is what she says true, Zane?" Julian asked.

"Fine, so maybe this life wasn't all I thought it would be," Zane said. "I mean we're basically squatters, the world thinks we're vigilantes, and even the Avengers don't trust us. We're a mess, and nobody will admit it. I thought with some extra money I could go solo. My parents cut off all money when they learned that I wanted to be a hero. They were too embarrassed to think of their son's face being in the newspaper or on TV."

"This isn't the way to be a hero," Aspen told him.

"Well Captain America's not my boyfriend, so I can't exactly get invited into the Avengers," Zane said, glaring at her.

She took a step back. "You think _that's_ why I'm on the team?" she asked. "I was a part of the Avengers before we were together. I fought in the Battle of New York."

"You say that like that makes you the biggest hero in the world. Sometimes being a hero isn't about the triumph and getting your name out there. Haven't you heard of the man they call Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen? He wasn't in the battle, but he's still a hero even though he hides his identity."

"I never said being a hero is about the glory," Aspen argued. "That's never been what it's about for me. I admit, the Avengers have a big presence in the world. There are Iron Man action figures and there are lunch boxes with the Hulk on them. That's the media, the consumer industry. That's not what we're about. Okay, so Tony Stark likes the attention, but he has a big personality. The rest of us don't like the spotlight. We just can't help that it's aimed at us."

"So you're not in it for the glory, but what makes you so much better than the rest of us out there? What makes you heroes and us vigilantes?" Zane threw at her.

Aspen opened her mouth, but she didn't know how to answer Zane's question. To her astonishment, it was Amber who answered. "Because they're a team. They work together and they don't lie to each other. They don't sell weapons to enemies. They've made a name for themselves in the world so people will trust them. That's what makes them heroes."

Everyone was silent, staring at Amber while she glared back at them.

"So what happens now?" Zane asked. "You take me in to Avengers Tower so I can be your prisoner?"

"What happens to you is up to your team," Aspen told him. "Although once I tell Tony about the weapons, I'm not sure what will keep him from coming after you."

"I'm not going to be anyone's prisoner," Zane told them with a snarl. "I did what I had to to make my way in this world. You lot were just a stepping stone."

"Don't you see that what you're saying, what you've done, that doesn't make you a hero. That makes you the villain."

"It's all a matter of perspective," Zane said coolly. "But I know you'll never see it my way, so you'll have to forgive me if I make my own decision."

They should have seen it coming, Aspen realized a moment later as her muscles suddenly stopped holding her upright, and she fell to the ground. The others fell around her as well, unable to move as Zane took control of the situation.

"I should thank you," he said. "I've grown much more powerful in my time here. This is nothing personal. Hopefully you won't be seeing me again. Don't try to come after me." He walked around them, and they let him go, powerless to stop him. Aspen tried to speak, but she couldn't form words. She felt like Jell-O and yet heavy as lead as she lay unable to move. Finally, what seemed like hours later, they could move again. Aspen supposed Zane could only hold onto them for so long before distance made it impossible to control them.

They all got to their feet looking shocked. Julian's face was unreadable, but Aspen knew he was furious. "Elite with me," he said. "We're going after him."

"I need to call this in," Aspen told Julian as he stormed out of the room. "The Avengers need to be part of this. This is bigger than the Elite now."

"No, this stays between us," he said. "Zane is _our_ teammate, _we_ can handle this."

"Zane was selling weapons to who knows what enemy. This is a matter of national security now, not just a rookie mistake. Even if Zane didn't mean to support Hydra or whoever, he still needs to stand accountable for his actions."

"And _we'll_ deal with him," Julian insisted. "Just two seconds ago you said that was our responsibility."

"Yeah, well now he's out on the run."

"We can handle it."

"So suddenly you have the right to carry out the law?" Aspen asked. "I thought you said we weren't to that point yet."

"You want me to call the police on Zane?" Julian scoffed.

"No." Normally she might have called in SHIELD, but now that that wasn't an option, she was beginning to see a potential problem. Without SHIELD to keep the super-humans in line, it fell to the Avengers, she supposed but in an unofficial capacity. If Julian and others like him refused to let the Avengers take control then what was to keep misguided inhumans from running rampant? For the first time since she'd been with the Elite, she was starting to see the potential threat. If Julian didn't back down then there could be a problem.

"Then you think the Avengers are the ones who make the call even though they know nothing about Zane and his past?" he asked, and Aspen didn't know how to answer that.

"Why is this so complicated? What are you going to do with Zane if you catch up to him?" Aspen asked instead. "He took down your whole team, me included, like it was nothing. You think he'll come quietly if you ask nicely?"

"He'll stand down if he doesn't feel cornered. If you call the Avengers in he's going to feel cornered and the Avengers are going to see him as a threat and the Elite will be done." Julian's eyes flashed as Aspen opened her mouth to argue. "This is _my_ team, Aspen. I invited you in, but now I'm asking you to back off."

"I can't do that Julian," Aspen said. "We need to track those weapons down. I can't promise that they won't try to bring Zane in, but I can ask them to let you deal with him if we catch up to him." She pulled out her phone as they reached the back doors of the facility. Perhaps she should have sensed what happened next, felt the shift in Julian's energy, but maybe she was still playing a game of trust. This time she lost.

"I'm sorry Aspen," Julian told her. "I can't let you do that."

Aspen turned just as something solid collided with her head. She dropped, phone falling from her fingers and smashing on the cement floor. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her head where she'd been hit. Julian pulled her into his arms and pushed the doors open. The van was parked straight ahead and he managed to heave her into the backseat and tie her arms behind her back before getting behind the wheel. "We're just going to take a little ride," he told her though she couldn't hear him. "There's something I need you to help me with and I'd rather your friends didn't get in the way."


	12. Revenger

**Author's Note:** I'm so excited for Agent Carter tonight! And there's a Captain America special with interviews with Chris Evans on beforehand. It's going to be a good night. I'm officially done writing part one and have started part two so here is another chapter! Two more chapters to go in part one.

* * *

 **11 – Revenger – February 8, 2015**

Aspen groaned as she woke up. Her temple stung and when she tried to put a hand to it she found her hands were bound behind her back. She was lying on her side in the backseat of a car, vinyl seat cold under her cheek.

"I didn't want it to come to this." Julian's voice brought Aspen back to her senses. She sat up, becoming aware of her surroundings. She was in the Elite's van. Julian was behind the wheel though the van was at a standstill. She couldn't tell where they were exactly. Somewhere near the water where the distant rumbling of traffic hummed somewhere behind them. "You were supposed to join us, make us a truly unbeatable team. Instead you chose to stay with _them_. You couldn't even let us handle our own problems. You were going to go running to them to ask them to fix it just like they try to fix everything." Julian's tone was bitter and harsh, and Aspen stared at him trying to figure out what had changed. He scowled back at her and there was something quite mad in his eyes. Aspen sensed the darkness that hovered around him again and realized she'd been a fool to ever trust him. Perhaps Peter Stewart had promised to fix Julian, but Julian had come out of that A.I.M. facility broken.

"You tried to fix things too – in Iceland. But Stewart got away."

"He's dead-" Aspen started to say, but Julian cut her off, throwing her a vicious look over the seat.

"But you don't _know_ that!" he shouted. "You didn't make sure and he could still be out there somewhere plotting, _planning_. You had one job and you couldn't even finish it. You couldn't fix it. I thought I could look past that, but I realize now I can't."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you know why I really started the Elite?" Julian asked her. "Do you know why I started gathering inhumans and training them to use their powers?"

"To protect them, to show the world you can be an asset and not something to fear," Aspen told him.

"Wrong. I wanted revenge. I wanted to make Peter Stewart suffer for what he had done to me. Do you want in on a little secret, Aspen? Do you want to know something that I've never told _anyone_ else? I wasn't born with these powers. They didn't just occur naturally. Didn't you ever wonder how Peter Stewart found me so quickly after the fire? He had been watching me for a long time before that. He'd chosen me. It was an honor, he said. He exposed me to something – a gas that brings out inhuman abilities. I could have been normal but he had to make me into something unnatural. He is the reason they're _dead_." His eyes were burning as he gazed at Aspen, and she could feel the heat of his anger. "After I escaped, I started thinking up the perfect revenge. I couldn't just kill him and destroy his work. So what if I used the very powers Stewart had been trying to replicate to destroy him? I planned for years, plotted a way to take him down, make him pay for what he'd done to me and others like me. Amber didn't know about my obsession. She has no idea how much that wound festered, how much it still festers. But then, just when we'd finally formed a team and were ready to destroy Stewart, I learned that someone had beat me to him. He was already gone." He paused to draw in a long breath. "You. You were the one. You took away my chance for revenge and you didn't even _finish the job_."

"I had no idea Julian," Aspen said, trying to remain calm as the crazed fire burned in Julian's eyes. "If I had known what he'd done to you – that you were planning revenge – I would have left him for you. Heck, I would have brought him to you, but I didn't know that. You're not the only one Stewart hurt though. Julian, he killed my father. The father I hadn't seen since I was four years old, the father I had just been reunited with. He shot him when he was trying to shoot me."

"But you got your revenge!"

"And it didn't help. It didn't take away the pain. I wasn't the one who killed him anyway. I didn't pull the trigger."

"Doesn't matter. It's too late to turn back," Julian said.

"Then what now? Are you going to take your revenge on me instead?" Aspen asked, trying to keep the note of fear from her voice. Julian's sanity was dangling by a thread, and she was afraid of pushing him too far. "We can still work together to take out A.I.M. You can still have your revenge."

"It's too late for that," Julian told her. "My plan is already set in motion. With my new army, we'll be invincible."

"Army? What are you talking about?"

"The Elite, of course," Julian said.

"But you said Amber didn't know about your obsession…" Aspen paused, her thoughts coming together. "The suits…those suits _were_ meant for the Elite, but they were built by your request. But that would mean you'd have to be working with A.I.M."

Julian's expression soured. "They don't work for A.I.M.," he told her. "They work for _me_."

"I don't understand."

"A.I.M. deals with science, but we _are_ science. Who do you think I set up that whole charade?"

Aspen shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around it. "But that computer was controlling you too," she said.

"No, it wasn't," he said forcefully. "It was a little act if you will. I didn't expect the Avengers to come charging in to mess everything up. Modok and I made a deal. I get him a new vessel and he helps me turn the Elite into an army. Those suits will give me the ability to control their powers. We will be an unstoppable force. Instead of struggling for years to master their abilities, I will master them for them."

"You're going to take away their freedom? How does that make you any better than Stewart?"

It was the wrong thing to say even if it was true. Julian's face turned livid and he reached back and grabbed her arm, hands scorching her skin. Aspen refused to cry out, cutting off the pain. When Julian finally released her there was a burn mark in the shape of his hand left behind. "I am _nothing_ like him," he seethed. "I am leading these inhumans into the battle of our time. We will take down every group, every person that would harm us. We'll be the heroes this time."

"This isn't the way to do it Julian. How do you think your team would feel if they knew?"

"They'll understand in the end when they see the burning remains of A.I.M."

"No. I don't think they will. Anyway, the suits are with Tony now."

Julian's lips twisted up in a smile. "We've broken in once before. What makes you think we can't do it again? What makes you think the Elite aren't already under my power?"

" _You_ can't mind control. Modok can and I cut off his power back there."

"So he found a new power source. Modok can inhabit any electronic device. Such as a cell phone." Julian pulled out his phone and Aspen started at the glowering face on the screen that met her. "Are the Elite under your control?" Julian asked Modok.

"One of them," the voice answered. "A diversion has been set at Avengers Tower and the suits will be in our possession shortly. Then we can control the rest."

"You see," Julian said. "Everything is already set in motion."

"And the vessel?" Modok asked. "You have it?"

"Yes," Julian replied. "Right here." His eyes went to Aspen. "Unlimited power."

…

"Where's Aspen?" Tony asked, striding into the room where Steve was doing some research on Modok.

"She went out," Steve replied vaguely. "Why?"

"I've been looking over all of the schematics found in the A.I.M. facility and I found something." He placed a paper in front of Steve. It was a plan for one of the suits meant for the Elite. "This one was made for Aspen," Tony told him.

Steve stared down at the schematic. "What? How is that possible? The A.I.M. workers wouldn't have even known she'd come into contact with the Elite. I mean even if they had an informant betray them, they met Aspen that same day we infiltrated A.I.M."

"Unless it was someone who had known about her for longer. How did the Elite find Aspen in the first place?" Tony asked.

"They didn't know about her, Julian found her-" Steve stopped short, mind whirling. "Julian. He was the one who found Aspen. He was the one who introduced her to the Elite. He was the one who invited her to come on the mission."

"He's been in charge all along, calling all the shots. Maybe Stewart knocked something loose when he experimented on him," Tony suggested.

"Aspen is with him right now," Steve said, standing so suddenly that his chair crashed to the floor.

"What?" Tony narrowed his eyes.

Steve sighed. "Some of the weapons they were supposed to destroy went missing. Aspen went with Julian to see if she could find out who stole them."

"And you didn't tell me?" Tony lifted an eyebrow.

"If we had, what would you have done?" Steve countered.

Tony paused to think. "Gone in repulsor rays blasting most likely," he admitted.

"Aspen could be in trouble."

"Do you think the whole team is behind it or just their leader?"

"I don't know," Steve replied. "Do you think Amber could have faked all that hostility?"

"She did mention she and Julian hadn't been seeing eye-to-eye on things lately," Tony said. "I guess there's only one way to find out. I'll call the others. Do you have any idea where their headquarters are?"

"We can put a trace on Aspen's phone," Steve suggested.

"Right. Of course." Tony pulled out his phone and ran the trace. "Brooklyn. I've got an address. Let's go."

Tony went to gather the others while Steve grabbed his shield and changed into his uniform. He didn't know what to expect. If the Elite were behind this then they'd have to fight a myriad of powers.

Steve was surprised to find Bruce joining them in the Avenjet as they gathered for their mission. "I'll be monitoring the situation from the jet," Bruce said by way of explanation. "We don't know what we're up against."

"Just so we're clear, we don't know if the Elite are behind this or if it's just Julian," Steve said.

"It doesn't make sense; he was controlled by that Modok character too," Clint said. "And he _hates_ A.I.M. Why would he work with them?"

"What if _they're_ working for _him_?" Natasha suggested. "He could have made a deal with them for the technology."

"Those suits were designed to control people with powers," Tony said. "Why would Julian want to control his own team when they're already following him?"

"I guess we'll find out," Steve said, nervously tapping his foot against the floor of the jet. Natasha touched his arm.

"She'll be okay. She's more than a match for Julian and his team," she assured him.

"But she wouldn't have seen it coming. She was so determined to see the good side of these kids."

"She's perceptive though. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd already figured out something was off."

"I hope so."

They landed the Avenjet on top of the warehouse, the jet in stealth mode. Steve was sure a sneak attack would be impossible, but when they entered the warehouse, they weren't met with any opposition. "Spread out," Tony told them. "Find them."

"No need," Natasha said as someone appeared from across the room. It was Amber, and she looked unsteady.

"Aspen's gone," she said, approaching the Avengers. Steve couldn't help but notice Tony tensing beside him as if expecting her to short out his suit again. She didn't. "Julian took her," she added.

"Who stole the weapons?" Tony asked.

"That was Zane, but I don't think he meant any harm. He was just trying to make some money to go solo."

"Didn't mean any harm-" Tony started, but Amber cut him off.

"Didn't mean any harm to us. But Julian…I found plans in his room. I found rantings… He's carried a grudge for Peter Stewart since he escaped the A.I.M. facility he was experimented on in. He planned to turn the Elite into an army and take down every person who'd ever done harm to an inhuman. He wanted to harness Aspen's powers. That's why he wanted her to join us. I've been so stupid."

"Julian doesn't have the outward appearance of a madman," Steve told her. "Do you know where he's taken Aspen? We tracked her phone here."

Amber held out something, and Steve saw that it was Aspen's phone. The screen was cracked. "Zane knocked us down with his powers – he can stop muscles from working so they can't hold a body upright. He escaped and Julian wanted us to go after him, but then he and Aspen were arguing over whether or not to call you. I went looking for them and found Aspen's phone. The van is gone and so is Julian. That's when I decided to search his room. He'd been acting strange lately. Fixated on taking down A.I.M."

"He worked with them to develop the suits that could control you," Tony told her.

"Then that night must have been an act," Amber said with a humorless laugh. "He set us up but then you guys got in the way of his plans."

"You're welcome," Clint threw in.

"We need to go after them. Any idea where he'd take her?" Steve asked Amber. He was trying to stay calm but finding out that Aspen was in the hands of someone who was quite possibly insane was not a comforting thought. He felt like he should have seen this coming but that would have meant shutting down Aspen and not giving the Elite a chance. It was still possible that the others had no idea of Julian's plan. Amber seemed surprised, but Steve didn't allow himself to trust her. Not yet.

"How do we know you're not in on his scheme?" Tony asked, echoing Steve's thoughts.

"Because what he's doing could ruin us," Amber said matter-of-factly. "I just want my people to be accepted and if not that then safe. What he's doing puts every one of us at risk. Not just the Elite but inhumans in general. We're not here to hurt people, not even the people who have hurt us."

"Julian doesn't seem to feel the same way."

"I didn't realize his obsession had grown so much," Amber told them. "He's good at putting up walls. He fooled us all it seems."

"Sometimes when people play with your mind, you don't come out the same," Natasha spoke up quietly. "Sometimes you break a little every day because you don't know what belongs to you anymore."

"Are you saying we should go easy on him when we catch up to him?" Tony asked, rounding on her.

"I'm saying people made him this way. He was once the victim. It doesn't make what he's doing now right, but in his mind he is right. He's still working toward the same goal as us. He's just going about it differently. We need to stop him before he hurts anyone, but don't forget where he's been."

"She's right," Steve said. "Aspen would want us to remember what made him this way. Stewart experimented on a lot of people including Aspen. He might not have messed with her mind, but Rinehart nearly did. In the wrong hands, any of us could have our minds twisted like that. We need to remember who the real enemy is here."

"Stewart is gone," Tony said. "Right now I'm only seeing one person causing trouble."

"We're wasting time," Amber cut in. "Argue about punishment later. We need action now. I can track Julian through his phone. We're all linked in case we need to find each other." She cursed a moment later. "He turned his tracker off."

"Do you have any idea where he might go?" Steve asked her.

Amber shut her eyes for a moment. "Yes," she said finally. "The A.I.M. facility where he was first experimented on. I think it's still functional, and if he's out to do something crazy then he'd go there. It's in Jersey City. He mentioned it in his notes – had a map marking it. I know he's revisited that place in his nightmares a lot. It seems like he had a plan for taking down A.I.M. once and for all but it required some of the equipment they had."

"So he's working with them in order to take them down? They can't be _that_ idiotic," Clint said.

"A.I.M. thrives on its experiments and right now inhumans are at the top of their list of things to study. Julian could have easily made a bargain. Or maybe he doesn't need to. He does have a powerful weapon with him right now."

"What do you mean…Aspen?" Steve asked. "She's not a weapon."

"But she could be used as such. Your girlfriend is powerful. More powerful than she knows. Julian could use that to his advantage."

"She'd never let him use her."

"With the right leverage she would. Everyone has a breaking point."

"Enough talk, let's go already," Clint said.

"Bring those you trust," Steve told Amber. "We might need the help."

She nodded. "Give me five minutes."

"Are you sure that's the best idea," Clint asked after Amber had disappeared further into the facility. "We can take him on our own."

"We don't know what his game plan is. We can use all the help we can get," Steve told him.

"Amber wants to protect the inhumans," Natasha told them. "She'll help us."

"I hope you're sure," Clint said. "I don't want to end up getting taken down by a pack of teenagers."

" _Sir_ ," came Jarvis's voice from Tony's suit. " _There is an unidentified intruder in the tower. I'm not sure how they bypassed security but they seem to be making for the lab._ "

"The suits are in there," Bruce said. "That was his plan all along."

"Get the suits and control his team," Tony said. "It doesn't matter if they agree with his methods or not then."

"We need to go after Aspen," Steve said.

"He gets those suits, we're going to have a much bigger problem on our hands," Tony said.

"We don't have time to get back to the tower _and_ save Aspen," Clint argued. "Personally I'm much more concerned about Aspen right now. Anyway, the Elite are with us. Hopefully."

"We don't have time to go back to the tower anyway," Steve insisted.

"Jarvis can you lock down the tower?" Tony asked. "There has to be some way to keep them from getting out."

" _I'm sorry, Sir. I'm picking up on an energy signature I don't recognize. I've put the tower on lockdown, but the intruder seems to have disappeared…I can't explain it."_

"Lily," Steve said. "Aspen told me about her ability. She can teleport. I don't think normal defenses work against her abilities. She's the one who left the note for Aspen at the beginning of all this."

"So is she part of Julian's plan or does she know what she's doing?" Clint asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Steve frowned. This was getting complicated. He no longer knew who to trust. "We have no way of knowing that. It's possible Julian just asked her to leave the note and she didn't know what it was about. She could also be under his control now. Or she could be acting of her own accord."

Footsteps had them all spinning around but it was just Amber returning with her teammates. There were two boys and a girl with her. Steve recognized Corbin and Calypso, but he wasn't sure who the other boy was. "I can't find Lily," Amber said, brow furrowed in worry.

"We think she just broke into Avengers Tower to steal the suits back," Steve broke the news to her.

"Lily would never go with Julian's plan," Amber said at once. "She's lived a hard life, but she's got a passion for humanity that would never allow her to seek revenge like that. I never thought Julian would use his team like that."

"He's not who we thought he was," Corbin said. "This isn't what we're about. We're here to do some good not get revenge."

"Is this all of you?" Tony asked, eyeing the small team of Elite.

"If Julian has a way to control us again, we can't risk all of us," Amber said. "Not everyone here has learned to master their powers. We can handle this. Teagan has earned his place on this team and Callie and Corbin know what they're doing. Enough talking, let's go." She brushed past the Avengers heading toward the Avenjet. Her team followed after her without another word.

"I think they've already found their new leader," Tony said. "I just hope they know what they're doing."

"Probably more than we know what we're doing," Natasha said. "Let's go."

…

"You can't control me though," Aspen said, staring at the screen of Julian's phone which had transformed into Modok's face. "You already tried and you failed."

"Ah, but this time I have the means to overcome you," Modok told her. "That serum in your veins belongs to A.I.M. _You_ belong to A.I.M."

"I don't belong to _anyone_ ," Aspen spat. "I didn't ask to be injected with that serum. I'm tired of defending myself, tired of being reminded time and time again that A.I.M. made me what I am… Because that's not true – _I_ made me who I am. _I'm_ in control of myself and I'm not about to let some _computer_ tell me any differently."

"The world doesn't work that way, Aspen," Julian told her. "We don't get to decide who we are. We're _made_ to be a certain way. We don't have control over that."

"You've let yourself become the thing Stewart made you into," Aspen told him. "And that makes you weak."

"We'll see who's weak in the end," Julian said with a smile that lit up his eyes in a manic light. He pulled a syringe out of the inside pocket of his jacket and reached around toward Aspen. She tried to pull away, but he caught her arm, the needle jabbing into her skin painfully. A fuzziness overtook her brain and she fell against the seat. She was aware of the van starting up again and then harsh lights.

She opened her eyes to find herself in a white washed lab. Workers in white lab coats walked around readying equipment. Julian was standing in front of Aspen, a smile twisting up his lips. She didn't know how she had missed the sickness that clung to his mind. Now it was the only thing she could sense – it was like a disease that had taken hold of his mind and made him forget himself altogether. He was no longer Julian Grey but the creation Peter Stewart had turned him into. Was there even any Julian left?

Aspen's mind was still hazy from whatever he'd injected her with. She tried to move but found that her arms and legs were strapped down with metal restraints. "Julian…Julian, don't do this," she managed to speak though her words sounded garbled in her head. "If you do this then Stewart wins."

"No, don't you see? If I do this _I_ win." He leaned close to her. "I will destroy everything Stewart ever believed in. Or rather, you will. Once these men have served their purpose then I'll burn them and this facility to the ground. And you – no more holding back. You will be free. You won't have to fear the boundaries your own mind has built up around you. You'll be able to do whatever you put your mind to."

"More like whatever you tell me to do. I won't have free will."

"You could if you joined me. That's all I ever wanted." There was a pleading note in Julian's tone.

"We're fighting for the same thing," Aspen told him. "Why can't you see that? I'm just not going to kill everyone along the way. A.I.M. is evil but that doesn't mean each of these scientists is too. It's not that black and white. Hydra is evil and so were the Nazis, but a lot of German soldiers served them out of fear. Good people sometimes do bad things to protect those they love. It doesn't make them bad people though. What you're doing though… You have good intentions but your actions are just as violent as your enemy's."

"You think trying to make peace will work? I thought you were smarter than that," Julian scoffed. "Enough talk, it's time for action. Prep her!" he called to the A.I.M. scientists. "And you're wrong," he whispered in a harsh tone, leaning close to her ear. "This time _I'm_ the one threatening them. They deserve nothing more."

"Everyone deserves a second chance," Aspen told him. "Even these people."

Julian simply smiled, stepping away as the scientists began to hook her up to a machine next to her. She turned her head to see Julian's phone fit into the machine, Modok's face leering from the screen.

"Are you ready to become one?" it rasped, and Aspen shuddered.

"I'll keep fighting you," she responded. "I will never stop fighting."

"The process is ready to commence," one of the scientists said. "Ready in three, two, one…" He pressed a button on the machine and it whirred to life. Aspen shut her eyes and built up the defenses in her mind imagining an impenetrable wall made of vibranium. _You are stronger than him_ , she told herself. _You've been through hell and back; you can get through this._ She repeated those words over and over in her head until the pain started and she had to bite down hard not to scream.


	13. The Meaning of Strength

**12 – The Meaning of Strength – February 8, 2015**

Jersey City, New Jersey was a short flight from Manhattan especially going top speed in the Avenjet. They found the facility with ease. It didn't openly advertise being A.I.M., but it stuck out like a sore thumb to those who knew about the rogue science group. To the innocent eye it simply looked like a research center. The Elite looked tense as Tony set down the jet. He didn't bother with secrecy this time, landing straight on the landing pad on the roof of the facility. They'd discussed a loose plan on the way over, but they had no idea what they were walking into.

"Just remember that Julian isn't who you thought he was," Tony reminded the Elite.

"We know," Amber spoke for her teammates.

They alighted from the jet, Amber reaching out her powers to cut off any security systems. "Remember, if you feel any pressure like someone's trying to control you, pull back," Steve told her. "We can't risk losing you and your team to any form of mind control."

Amber gave him a tense nod. "And you remember that Julian is insane because of Stewart." She looked at each of the Avengers. Bruce had developed a quick serum that would cut off Julian's powers. They each had a small syringe so whoever reached him first would try to inject him. Bruce was staying behind on the jet. Even Tony had agreed that anyone attempting to control Bruce and possibly bring out the Hulk was a risk they couldn't take.

They found the roof entrance and entered, streaming into the building. Steve's adrenaline was pulsing and his sole focus was on getting to Aspen. Natasha, Clint, Teagan, and Callie were already incapacitating any opposition as A.I.M. security rushed in. For such a small girl, Callie was extremely powerful. Steve had learned that she could control the elements. She sent a gust of wind that she'd created straight at a line of security guards who went flying backwards into the wall, weapons dropping to the floor. Teagan could manipulate energy and sent out a similar surge. He could also create a protective force field and, when a shower of bullets sprayed down on them, he spread a force field over them. Steve and Tony hurried downward as Jarvis ran a scan on the building.

" _Ms. Tolvar is on the third floor. I believe they've already started the process_ ," the A.I. informed them.

"What process?" Steve and Clint asked at the same time.

" _They are attempting to combine her consciousness with the one they call Modok,_ " Jarvis informed them.

Clint sent off a spew of colorful words for what the A.I.M. workers and Julian and Modok were before rushing ahead. This time Steve took the lead, using his shield as a buffer. The security guards went flying as he put his anger and anxiety into his shield arm.

It seemed to take ages to get to the third floor but finally they were there. A glass wall stood in their way and Tony shouted for them to all stand back before using his repulsor rays to shatter the glass. The A.I.M. scientists behind the glass all ducked as the sharp shards rained down on them. Steve rushed into the room. Aspen was there strapped to some sort of machine. She was in pain – he could tell that much. Lily stood a few paces away looking blank-faced as if under control. Steve heard Corbin calling out her name. Julian scowled, coming to stand between them and Aspen. Steve didn't think; he rushed at Julian and the boy sent a surge of flames straight at him. Steve threw up his shield, but he could still feel the heat of the flames. He pushed forward, but his shield was growing too hot to hold.

His team tried to close in, but flames leapt up and cut off their path to Aspen. Steve turned to look at Lily. She was the only one who could easily get to the other side of the flames. Corbin was shaking her now, and Lily seemed to come to, blinking and gazing around the room in obvious confusion. Corbin said something to her and pressed a syringe into her hand. The girl nodded, disappearing. A moment later the flames spluttered. Julian let out a shout and whirled on Lily. Steve lowered his shield to see Julian strike Lily, sending her to the floor. A syringe was still stuck in his arm, and he ripped it out. "What have you done?" he asked. He tried to use his powers, but they wouldn't work.

"Amber, cut the power!" Steve shouted. The girl reached out and tugged at the machine's power. It spluttered and died, lights going dim. Steve only hoped it wasn't too late. He ripped the metal bonds from their hinges, and Aspen fell into his arms. "Aspen?" He cradled her, kneeling on the floor. She didn't stir but then her eyes flashed open. They were no longer green but a piercing white. She stared straight up at the ceiling as if she could neither see nor hear him. "Aspen?" He shook her gently.

"He was right," she said finally, her words stronger than he'd expected.

"Who was right?"

"Julian. He was right about my power," she said, standing. "They are infinite." She turned to survey the others. They hung back looking unsure.

"Pen?" Clint broke the silence. "Your eyes…"

"I can see everything," she said. "Do you know what that's like?"

He shook his head. Steve was growing more alarmed by the second. This wasn't Aspen. Not his Aspen. "What did you do to her?" he snapped at Julian who was now on the floor, hands tied behind his back.

He just chuckled. "I just showed her who she really is," he said.

"But Modok…"

"They are one and the same now," Julian said. "Modok, awaken!"

Aspen closed her eyes and convulsed. Steve reached out a hand to steady her but she stepped out of reach. "Now they're mine to control," she said and when she opened her eyes again, Steve could see nothing of Aspen left there. As she spoke, the Elite walked forward as if enchanted. Steve realized Aspen was controlling them. He could see Amber trying to fight it, but Aspen was too strong. "They are mine to command."

"Then here is your first command," Julian said. "Destroy the Avengers."

…

Aspen had been vaguely aware of the Avengers entering the room but the wracking pain that had her body in torment was too much of a distraction to notice much more than that. Then the pain had faded and she had found herself in Steve's arms. She knew it was him before she even opened her eyes, before she even heard his voice. His warm hands were solid, gentle yet tight as if he could physically pull her away from her pain. A moment later her mind was overwhelmed by something she couldn't put into words. It was like a white burst of understanding. She could see everything. She was _aware_ of everything. It wasn't like normal when she would sense how many people there were in a room from their body temperatures or trivial details like that. It was like someone had pried open her mind and put the knowledge of the universe inside. It was a white, searing pain – overwhelming and fulfilling at the same time. She opened her eyes and saw Steve but it was as if through a filmy curtain.

"He was right," she told Steve. Her mouth moved of its own volition but she meant the words she said.

"Who was right?" he asked, brow furrowing.

"Julian. He was right about my power," she said. Something deep inside of her mind tried to pull her eyes away from Steve's and, after a moment, she got to her feet, leaving the protective embrace of his arms. She felt like a newborn filly on unsteady legs. Steve reached out to steady her, but she stepped away and didn't know why.

"They are infinite." She turned to the others. They were all staring at her with expressions of worry and shock.

"Pen?" She turned her eyes to Clint. He looked like he was about to explode with worry over her, but something cut her off from feeling any sort of response to that. "Your eyes…"

"I can see everything," she said. She had no idea what her eyes looked like to them, but looking outward she was seeing something entirely different. "Do you know what that's like?"

Clint shook his head. "What did you do to her?" Steve snapped, turning to where Julian knelt on the floor. Aspen turned her eyes to him, frowning.

Julian chuckled. "I just showed her who she really is," he said.

"But Modok…" Modok. The name rang a familiar bell deep inside of her brain, but instantly a voice told her not to worry about it. It wasn't important.

"They are one and the same now," Julian said. "Modok, awaken!"

Pain overtook Aspen, and she convulsed. She could sense Steve reaching out a hand to hold her, but she pulled away like his hand might scald her. She still bore the burn mark from Julian, and it twinged as if reminding her of her place. "Now they're mine to control," she said, opening her eyes again. This time she didn't recognize the voice that spoke. It was hers, but the words were not. She looked at the Elite and knew what she was compelled to do. She reached out and took hold of their minds, so fragile and easy to control. They walked forward and stood at her side. "They are mine to command," the voice that was but wasn't hers spoke again.

"Then here is your first command," Julian said from where he knelt on the floor. "Destroy the Avengers."

"We're on the same side!" Clint shouted at Julian.

"Ah, but you would stand in my way so that makes us enemies."

"Whatever happened to the whole enemy of my enemy thing? Ever heard of that?" Clint retorted. His bow was in his hand now but he didn't seem to know where to aim.

"Show them what you can do," Julian said to Aspen or perhaps it was the other voice in her head.

Aspen reached out with her mind and the shattered glass shards lying on the floor lifted into the air and surrounded the Avengers. She let the glass circle them and then brought it together into one form above their heads where she melted it into the shape of a soldier, setting it onto the floor before them. The soldier stood for a moment, perfection in glass before melting down into liquid and running under the soles of their shoes.

"I can control anything," she said. Something tugged at the back of her mind. _I don't want to control anything_ , a weak voice said. It was shoved aside and a cruel voice grated into her skull in its place. _You will do whatever I command_. Modok. Aspen's memories began to return. Pain overcame her, and she fell to her knees as Modok attacked her mind. _I will beat you into submission_ , he told her. _There will be no Aspen Tovar left_.

"Aspen, you have to fight it!" Steve shouted at her. "You're stronger than he is. You're stronger than all of us, but you don't need him for that."

 _He lies. I'm stronger and I will force you out and steal your powers for my own_ , Modok screamed in her ear.

"Attack the Avengers!" her mouth said, betraying her. The Elite moved forward and the Avengers stiffened, faces clearly showing their reluctance to fight the inhumans. Again. Julian was laughing wildly now from his place on the floor. He watched as the Elite moved together as one and attacked. It was chaos. Aspen knelt on the floor watching as the Avengers tried to defend themselves without hurting the inhumans attacking them. Amber went straight for Tony and his suit fell dead. Natasha fought Lily who whirled in and out of sight, shard of glass clutched in her hand. Teagan threw energy at Thor who deflected it with his hammer. Callie wielded the elements against Clint who ducked and sent back retorting arrows that were a hopeful distraction. Corbin was crushing the metal equipment around them into balls and sending them flying at Steve who blocked them with his shield.

 _Finish them_ , Modok commanded her. _You can bring them down in the blink of an eye_. Julian was watching her intently, eyes glowing.

"Do it," he said and Aspen was on her feet. She fought every step as she approached her team. _If I'm the most powerful of them all then I should be able to fight this,_ she told herself. She struggled to stop her steps and her foot hesitated a few inches above the ground. Her body trembled as she fought Modok's influence. _You're stronger than this_. Suddenly she was back in Asgard and Loki was telling her that she was holding back, afraid to unleash her powers. She was strapped to Doctor Rinehart's table being told her brain was the key to the future. She was fighting for her life during Hydra's takeover, afraid to use her powers. Now she had tasted real power and she was still holding back. It wasn't her using it but Modok. _I need to take control_.

She closed her eyes and opened herself up completely to her powers. "Stop!" she shouted and this time it was her voice that rang across the room. Her vision was becoming stronger, more vivid, and she could hear Modok screaming somewhere in her mind. She needed to drive him out. The Elite had stopped fighting on her command. The Avengers were bruised and a little battered from trying not to hurt the Elite, but they stood down as well, watching Aspen with wary eyes.

"Aspen?" Steve asked, taking a hesitant step toward her.

"Yes," she said. "But he's still in me."

"You gotta flush him out," Clint told her. "It was the same way with Loki. Flush him out."

She could feel Modok scrabbling to get a hold on her mind again, but she fought back. _Get OUT!_ she shouted mentally. There was a searing pain that sent her to the floor and then he was gone. Steve was at her side, hands pulling her into his arms and cradling her once more. "He's gone," Aspen said wearily. The buzz from her powers was making it hard to think, but she could feel the increased power fading as Modok's influence wore off. He knew how to access her powers to their fullest, but Aspen felt no need to do that. She let them dim until she felt human again.

"Let's get you out of here," Steve said, pulling her into his arms. Aspen didn't protest this time.

"Don't hurt him," she whispered, speaking of Julian. "He didn't know what he was doing."

Steve's lips thinned in a frown, but he gave her a nod. "We won't hurt him, but we're going to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else either."

…

The aftermath of the minor battle brought the Avengers and the Elite back to Avengers Tower. Aspen was asleep in Steve's arms still, so he set her on one of the couches in the lounge where they congregated knowing she wouldn't want to be alone when she woke up. Julian had been placed in Tony's secure lockup where Jarvis assured them he would be safe. He'd done enough damage for one day and perhaps for a lifetime. Steve had to keep reminding himself that Julian hadn't been sane and that his actions were the result of experimentation. That's what Aspen would want him to remember.

The Elite looked visibly uncomfortable as they looked around the lounge. Finally Amber sat down next to Tony – now released from his Iron Man suit. The others followed though now it was Tony looking uncomfortable. Corbin sat next to Lily, holding her hand while Teagan and Callie took chairs by the bar counter.

"Does anyone need medical attention?" Tony asked.

"Nothing a good night's rest can't fix," Clint said, gingerly touching his temple where a bruise was beginning to form.

"Sorry," Callie said.

"Wasn't your fault, kid," Clint told her. "What's important is that we all got out of this okay and that Modok is out of Aspen's head."

"Do we know that for sure?" Steve asked, glancing over to where Aspen lay breathing shallowly.

"I had Jarvis run a scan on her when we arrived. There's nothing in her brain that shouldn't be there. Modok had a very specific reading on my sensors," Tony assured him.

"So then is Modok gone or is he still out there somewhere?"

"Hard to say. Modok thrives on technology. He can't escape if there's no power, but I have a feeling he wormed his way out of that lab somehow."

"On our phones?" Clint asked, hastily pulling his out and tossing it onto the coffee table with distaste.

"No. Jarvis ran a scan on all technology as we entered. He didn't enter this tower."

"So what are we gonna do with pryo downstairs?" Clint asked.

"For now he'll stay in solitary confinement. Otherwise, I don't know." Tony turned to look at Amber. "He can't go back with your team. He's unstable."

"I wasn't going to ask you to let him go," Amber said. "Julian needs help. If someone was willing to help him then maybe he could get better."

"Are you volunteering?" Tony asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"I want to help him," Lily spoke up.

"Even after what he did to you?" Corbin asked, scowling and holding Lily's hand tighter.

"Julian isn't a bad person but a good person who's had bad things done to him. I'd like to think someone might try to help me if my brain was messed with and I went a little crazy. We're a team, a _family_. We help our own. That's what the Elite is about. It's not about being better than anyone, it's about going above and beyond to help others."

"Well said," Thor told the girl. Lily blushed.

"So you're going to keep going as a team?" Tony asked. "Who's going to lead you now?"

"I will," Amber spoke up. "If they'll have me."

"Of course," Callie told her. "You're the natural choice."

"Maybe, if you'll allow it, the Elite and the Avengers could spend some time training together," Tony suggested. The Elite all looked at him in surprise. "I know, I know, but seriously. I think we could teach each other something."

"So you finally believe that they deserve a second chance?" came a croaky voice from across the room. Steve was on his feet and across the room in a second, cradling Aspen's back as she sat up.

Clint beamed at her. "Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty."

"What'd I miss? Seems like you guys made peace without me."

"Yeah, well, I have to say they impressed me," Tony said with a shrug. "When they're not under the control of a lunatic computer system."

"Is Modok gone?" Aspen asked, eyes panicked.

"Yeah, he's gone," Steve assured her. "You fought him off."

"I'm so sorry," Aspen said to the Elite. "I would never intentionally control you. It goes against everything I believe in."

"Yeah, well our leader was controlling you, so I think we're even now," Amber said. For once her gaze wasn't hostile as she looked at Aspen. "So what do you think, girl with all the powers. Can we work together?"

Aspen smiled. "It's all I ever wanted."

"If we're talking second chances, what about Zane?" Lily asked. "He didn't mean any harm."

"If you can get him to tell us the name of the buyers and get him to promise not to do that again, we'll talk," Tony said.

"We'll try."

"We should get back. The other Elite will be worried," Amber said, rising from her seat. She approached Aspen and held out a hand. Aspen took it. "We'll be in touch," Amber said before turning and leading her team out of the room.

"I'll have someone drive you," Tony told them before calling someone downstairs with instructions.

"Well, I'm kind of glad that's all over with," Clint said, putting his feet up on the coffee table and throwing his arms over the back of the chair.

"But it was so much fun," Aspen said, scooting over so Steve could sit down next to her. When he was seated, she curled up in his lap, pulling his arms around her.

"I think this calls for shots," Tony said, getting up and heading to the bar.

"I second that," Clint said, staying where he was.

"Do you want to go lie down?" Steve asked Aspen quietly while the others sent alcohol requests at Tony.

"I'm okay for now," she said. "I just want to be with my team for awhile."

He smiled down at her. "So you won't be joining the Elite after all?" he asked.

Aspen laughed. "I was on the fence for a long time, but I'm going to have to go with no."

"Good. We need you here," Steve said. Aspen smiled, but it faded quickly and her eyes went distant for a moment. "Something is wrong," Steve surmised.

"It's just…it's nothing. Just something I saw when Modok was in my brain. Probably nothing." She bit her lip as if deliberating whether or not to talk about it further. "I'll tell you later when we're alone," she said finally. "Right now I don't want to think about it."

"Of course." Aspen smiled at him, but Steve could still see the worry in her eyes. Even when the danger seemed to be over, there was always something else lingering close to the surface.

…

"I saw things I shouldn't have when Modok was in my head," Aspen said when she and Steve were alone later that night. She was wrapped in her warmest pajamas with Phoenix curled up next to her. Steve propped himself up on his elbow to give her his full attention.

"What kind of things?"

"Future things. Past things. Alternate universes, paradoxes… Steve, I saw _everything_. The past makes sense – Modok is a computer system. With his consciousness melded with mind, I'd have access to any information in his system. But I shouldn't be able to see the future." She felt haunted by it. It was too much. She buried her head in the pillow.

"Did you see _our_ future?" Steve asked softly.

Aspen lifted her head. "Not so much _ours_ but I did see the Avengers. There were more of us though. People I've never met, but they were definitely fighting with us. There was this battle. I don't know when or where. I just remember this overwhelming feeling that we were in way over our heads, that it was the biggest challenge we'd ever faced or would ever face. I didn't see how it ended – I couldn't watch that and spend the rest of my life anticipating it. Then I saw alternates. I saw dozens of alternate futures. It was like staring into a hall of mirrors only the reflection was different in every one. I didn't understand most of what I saw except one… One mirror showed what would have happened if Modok had won." She shut her eyes, but the images from the vision snuck in anyway. "We took over the world Julian and me. First New York, then North America, then we kept getting stronger, building an army of inhumans. They were all under his control through Modok. I didn't exist anymore except in the most base form trapped somewhere deep inside my own mind. The Avengers were gone…we killed you."

"That didn't happen though," Steve reassured her, placing a hand on her cheek to wipe away a tear that escaped out of the corner of her eye. "You beat him."

"But it could have happened, that's what was so frightening. All these futures _could_ happen."

"But they might not. That battle you saw might not ever happen."

"That wasn't one of the alternates I saw though. That was the future. There was a difference. So far that future is set."

"Then we face it when we get there," Steve said.

"The power I had when Modok was exploiting it…it scared me. He didn't make me more powerful, he just knew exactly how to use my powers. I'm really powerful, Steve. I didn't realize _how_ powerful. What if someone tries to use me again? It's happened so many times. If someone isn't trying to replicate it, they're trying to manipulate and control it. I'm a danger to everyone if it falls into the wrong hands, if _I_ fall into the wrong hands. I am a weapon."

"That's not true. I know you'd never use your powers to gain control over anyone or anything. Not the way Julian wanted to use them."

"But it might happen again. He did get ahold of me even for a short time. That battle between you and the Elite could have gone much differently. Someone could have died."

"They didn't though."

"Steve, my mom and aunt came up with a serum that counteracts the Superhero Serum. If I take it, I go back to being normal."

Steve was silent for a long moment, then, "Do you want to take it?" he asked.

"I don't know." Aspen leaned back into the pillow. "For the longest time after I was first injected all I wanted was to be normal, but now…now I've found a purpose for my powers. I've turned them into abilities, and I've saved lives with them. I don't want to be incapable, but I also know I'm capable without them. I've trained hard to ensure I don't ever _have_ to rely on my powers to protect myself. But if people keep exploiting me for my powers… I'm tired, Steve. I'm tired of people coming after me for something I didn't even ask for. I don't want to be this powerful being. I just want to be me."

"That serum doesn't make you any less _you_."

"It could though. I can't go back after what I caught a glimpse of. That raw power…it was so frightening. I don't want to be that powerful. I don't want to ever be put in a situation where I have to open myself up to that again."

"You don't have to. You're in control right now. I can't promise another power-hungry person isn't going to come after you for your powers, but I don't have any doubt that you can keep control of yourself. But if you want to be done the serum, you have that chance."

"We've discussed this before. Only then it was just an idea, but now they've actually completed it."

"Don't make your decision right away," Steve told her. "Take your time."

"I will. I just hope I end up making the right choice. _That_ I did not see one way or another."

"Maybe that's for the best."

"Or maybe it could have helped me make up my mind." She smiled ruefully. "I guess the future is all about taking a chance. It could turn out a lot of different ways depending on the choices we make, but we have to choose one way or another in the end."

"Sometimes there are two right choices, but you need to make the choice that's right for _you_." He leaned forward and kissed her lightly. "For the record, I'm glad my future turned out the way it did. There could have been a lot of different alternate futures depending on how that last fight with Red Skull went, but the future I ended up with brought me to you."

Aspen smiled at him and closed her eyes. She hadn't mentioned the alternate future she'd seen where she _hadn't_ met Steve. She'd only caught a glimpse, but it had been dark and bleached of life and color. She pulled herself closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. Whatever futures lay out there, whatever future lay ahead of them, she was here with Steve in the present and that was enough.


	14. Second Chances

**Author's Note:** Here ends part one! I hope you enjoyed! Part two goes into Age of Ultron. I have only written two pages, so I'll have to take a bit of a break from posting while I keep writing. I've been busy applying for full time jobs (just had an interview today, so fingers crossed!) so I've been distracted and stressed and if I get the job I will be much busier, but I'm so excited to keep writing, so I won't ever stop! On another note (and another big distraction) I got the Lego Avengers game for my wii u. IT IS THE BEST! You get to go back to the train scene in the first Cap movie in a flashback, and I kept falling off the train as Bucky by accident and that was totally traumatizing! But Bucky! You get him as a character and Peggy and Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel). It's just fantastic. I admittedly have been obsessively playing it since I bought it. There is not much out there cuter than Lego Stevie.

Anyway, thank you for reading! I'll see you in part two.

* * *

 **13 – Second Chances – February 14, 2015**

"How is he?" Aspen asked Amber. The new leader of the Elite had been coming by the Tower every day since Julian's capture. She'd been trying to talk to him, trying to get through to him. Julian hadn't uttered a single word though.

"Same." Amber sighed, leaning against the wall. "I thought I could get through to him, but maybe he's damaged beyond repair."

"I don't believe anyone is damaged beyond repair," Aspen said. "But maybe we don't know how to fix him." She'd called her mom a couple of days ago to talk about Julian.

" _Sometimes a person gets so set on revenge that they believe they can't get better until they have it_ ," her mom had told her.

" _But I took that away from him. It didn't matter that I didn't pull the trigger. I was there, and I took Julian's revenge from him_."

" _He saw you as part of his problem. He couldn't have revenge on Stewart, so you were the next best thing. None of it is logical. You aren't at fault for anything_."

" _I know that, but I also sort of get why Julian was so upset_ ," she had told her mother. " _He's the one who exposed Julian to something that brought out his powers in the first place. Julian could have been normal. It's Stewart's fault that his life turned out the way it did._ "

" _Stewart is at fault for a lot of things but there comes a time when you have to become accountable for your own actions and quit blaming your past. There comes a time when you have to move on._ "

" _Julian didn't know how to. Will he ever recover, do you think?_ " Aspen had asked her mother.

" _Maybe. If his teammates continue to visit him then perhaps he'll be reminded of the true purpose of his team. But he has to want to help himself. No one can make him do anything._ "

" _I could._ "

" _But you wouldn't because you aren't him and you don't blame Stewart for everything that goes wrong in your life. You've accepted your past and moved on. That's what really helped you learn to use your powers. Acceptance. Accountability. Moving on. That's what makes you stronger than he could ever be_."

"He's safer here."

"How are the Elite?" Aspen asked.

"First of all we've renamed ourselves," Amber said. "The Elite just made us sound like we thought we were better than everyone else. Julian might have thought that, but we don't. We're now the Second Chance Society. Not my idea, but it fits. Our goal is to give inhumans a second chance. We've already graduated five new candidates and brought in four more. Word is spreading."

"That's great."

Amber smiled, and Aspen was certain it was the first time Amber had smiled at her. "We're making you an honorary member," she said, pushing off of the wall. "Since you were so ecstatic about the opportunity to join."

Aspen laughed. "Well, I'm honored," she told Amber. "Whenever you and your…Second Chancers want to train together with the Avengers, let me know."

"I might have to change the name, but yeah, I'll give you a call." Amber stuck out her hand and Aspen took it.

"Well, she's made a turn around," Steve said, walking up to Aspen after Amber had left the Tower. "I saw you shaking hands."

"I'll say. It's kind of a relief not feeling the heat from her glares anymore. She just felt threatened. She tries to put up this wall and keep all her emotions shut away behind it, but she cares really deeply." She turned to Steve, smiling up at him. "Feels kind of weird not having anything pressing to do suddenly. Whatever will we do to pass the time?"

"I don't know if you checked the calendar today," Steve said, cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Nope, I didn't have a chance. What is it the 10th or the 15th or something?" she said seriously.

"The fourteenth actually," he supplied.

"Ah, I was close." She watched him carefully as he shuffled his feet and then crossed his arms. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?" she asked, a smile quirking up the corners of her mouth.

"Well, everything has been so hectic lately, and I thought you deserved a day where you could be distracted…and today, well…it seemed like a good day for that."

"Are you trying to ask me out?" Aspen asked, taking a step toward him.

"I just thought it might be nice to do something since it is February 14th," he finally got out.

"Why are you so embarrassed?" Aspen asked. "It's just Valentine's Day. No biggie."

"It's just…something Tony was saying to me earlier. Suggestions… Suggestive suggestions." His blush deepened.

"Oh dear. I take it these suggestions were not suitable for audiences under eighteen." Aspen smirked.

Steve looked up at her, giving her a half-hearted glower when he caught that she was teasing him. "He just made me question the purpose of this holiday and also make me wonder if you…if…what your expectations are?" He said the last few words so quickly that Aspen could hardly understand them. She was having trouble containing her grin now.

"You think I might want something more out of today?" she asked. "Or does Tony think that?"

"Never mind, forget I said anything. In fact, why don't we just pretend like today is a completely normal day just like any other day?"

"Oh but now you've got me curious about what sort of activities you were planning for us," Aspen pressed. "I've never actually celebrated Valentine's Day before. We were always on missions before, come to think of it. Three years and we never even acknowledged it."

"Me neither. It's part of the reason I thought maybe we could do something special today."

"Teasing aside, I'd love to do something," Aspen said, letting him off the hook. "Forget Tony's suggestive ideas. What do _you_ want to do?"

"I'd love to take you somewhere," Steve said. "We haven't been out for ages."

"Okay, I'll grab my coat," she said, eager to leave the tower and spend a day with Steve.

Steve drove them into the city past the meandering couples and love struck teens. Normally Aspen would have called Valentine's Day a useless, commercial holiday, but there was something different about it when you actually had someone you cared about to share it with. It was something normal and routine, something Steve and Aspen didn't usually have. Aspen found she was more than willing to grasp any hint or normalcy she could.

Steve took her to the restaurant she had once taken him to shortly after they'd met. It was too cold to sit outside, but Aspen could pick out the table they'd sat at that day. He'd looked so handsome that night in his button-up shirt and brown slacks, hair neatly combed to the side. He'd been a bit awkward that day too, unsure of what exactly their dinner date meant.

 _Steve's eyes widened when he saw her, and Aspen couldn't help but smile, pushing back the little bit of satisfaction that rose in her._

" _You look really nice," he said, stammering a little._

" _Thanks, you too." She beamed at him. "Are you ready? I know of a place you're really going to like."_

" _All right." He climbed into the passenger side of her car, and she pulled away from the curb. Aspen noticed that he was drumming his fingers on his knee as she drove. If she didn't know better, she would say he was nervous. The thought made a smile break out across her face. Steve looked over at her._

" _What?" he asked, narrowing his blue eyes in confusion. The knee tapping paused._

" _Are you nervous?" she asked._

" _What? Why would you think that?" His eyes had taken on a guarded look and his knee tapping resumed._

 _Aspen chuckled. "I don't know. You just seem nervous. Don't tell me this is your first dinner date with a girl." She grinned when Steve's cheeks colored slightly._

" _I-er-I haven't really had a whole lot of…experience with girls," he stammered._

" _Relax. This is just dinner between two friends. No need to get nervous. I'm not holding any expectations over your head."_

 _He relaxed slightly and the drumming stopped. He gave her a bashful sidelong glance. "I didn't really…girls didn't really…take much of an interest in me before…" He seemed to struggle to describe why they hadn't taken an interest in him._

" _Before you were injected with the Super Soldier Serum," she finished for him feeling a stab of anger toward those girls. So what if Steve had been on the scrawny side? His personality hadn't changed as far as she knew. Nor had the twinkling blue eyes that were always filled with so much life._

" _Yeah."_

" _That's shallow of them," she told him. "Girls like that aren't worth your time."_

" _Yeah, you're probably right. How about you?" Aspen wasn't quite sure what he was asking. Was he asking her if she would have liked him pre-serum? "I mean, do you have anyone? You mentioned the man who saved your life and brought you to SHIELD." Then she realized he was asking if she had a boyfriend._

" _Oh." It was her turn to flush. "No…no. And it's not like that with Clint. We're friends – he's more like an older brother to me. I guess I haven't really had time to date… I'd really rather not date a smuggler or a spy, so that eliminates most of my options."_

" _That would be tough."_

" _And I have issues trusting people," she added. "Opening up to someone like that makes me feel vulnerable which is something I never want to feel again." She shut her mouth before she could spill the entire Winter Incident. Like she needed to open up all her ugly mistakes to Steve who was as good as they came._

 _He had fallen silent, and Aspen tried to think of something to say to break the tension. Then he spoke quietly, hesitantly. "I'm sorry someone hurt you," he said. "I'm not sure exactly what happened, and that's your business, but I promise I'll never betray your trust."_

 _Aspen looked over at him, touched by his words. She hadn't asked for his respect, for his kindness, and yet he gave it so freely. What had she done to deserve that? "Thanks," she said. "I'm not sure I deserve it, but thanks."_

" _You deserve it."_

Aspen smiled to herself. Back then she never would have pictured herself here in the future actually _with_ Steve. They had a life together and it wasn't the life she'd ever imagined for herself. It wasn't the life she thought she was lucky enough to deserve. But here they were.

"What?" Steve asked, catching her smile.

"I was just thinking about the first time we came here. Do you remember?"

"Of course. That's why I brought you here," he said, reaching across the table to take her hand. "It's a good memory."

" _I read about what you did," Aspen had blurted out to Steve that night at dinner. He'd looked up at her, confused. "I mean, I haven't told you how incredible I think it was that you crashed that ship to save the world. You talk about war, and I can only listen. I don't know what it is to sacrifice everything like that, but you were so willing to put down your life."_

 _He looked embarrassed. "When it came down to it, I didn't have a choice. What was one life compared to millions?"_

" _That's what sets you apart from the rest of the world, Steve Rogers," she told him. "You're always thinking about everyone else before yourself. I guess I haven't met many people like that in my lifetime."_

" _Sometimes you have to be in a moment like that to realize how far you'd go," he told her._

 _They finished their dinner in companionable silence after that, and Aspen paid the bill when it arrived even though Steve protested. He opened her car door for her and thanked her for dinner._

" _We'll do it again," Aspen said._

" _I'd like that."_

"Who would have thought we'd be here today?" Aspen asked.

"I hoped," Steve told her. "Every day after that day, I hoped."

Aspen's cheeks heated but from happiness not embarrassment. She felt like she was glowing, like the luckiest girl alive. "It sometimes seems like a dream. I have to pinch myself to remind myself that it's real."

" _I wanted to draw this for you," Steve told her later that night after he'd walked her to her apartment. "After you described it to me." He turned the paper he was clutching around and held it out to her._

 _Aspen numbly took it, looking down at the incredibly realistic drawing of her childhood home. The Sunflower House was there, lightly colored in with golden colored pencil. The aspen tree was in the front with the milky white bark and golden yellow trees. There were three people depicted on the porch, a mother, a father, and a little girl holding their hands in between. The little girl had red hair and was undoubtedly her. She was speechless._

" _Do you like it?" Steve asked worriedly._

 _Instead of answering, Aspen set down the drawing and pulled Steve into a hug. Her head only came up to his chest, but she wrapped her hands around him nonetheless. This time he didn't hesitate to hug her back, his chin brushing the top of her head, his strong arms gentle on her back. "Thank you," she said. " I love it."_

"It's always been easy for me to tell what's real. My dreams are never this nice," Steve said and there was a sad note to his voice. He smiled anyway and squeezed her hand.

"I love you," Aspen told him. "I feel like it's cheesy to say it today, but I also don't feel like I say it enough." She'd say it every minute if she could get the same smile out of Steve as she did then.

"I love you too," he told her. "So much."

"So what were some of Tony's suggestions?" Aspen asked with a sly grin.

Steve's cheeks instantly colored. "Er…not table appropriate," he said.

"That bad, huh?"

"I think he, like you, relishes in making me uncomfortable." He cocked his head at her, a teasing accusation in his blue eyes.

"Ah, I can't be as bad as him. I'm not that inventive," Aspen said, grinning.

"You're much kinder," Steve told her.

"We should TP his room or something while he's in Malibu. Didn't he fly out there to be with Pepper?"

"Yeah, he left this morning after making sure I had plenty of options for today."

"I know, let's steal all his ties and tie them onto the very top of the tower," Aspen said, nearly jumping in her seat. Steve shook his head, but he was smiling.

"Come on, those are my suggestions. You have to pick one."

"Fine," Steve gave in, laughing. "I'm not one for vengeance, but he has done a lot to deserve it lately."

"I know – since he was so intent on _us_ celebrating Valentine's Day, let's decorate his entire room in pink hearts."

"You're adorable, you know that?" Steve asked, shaking his head. "Sometimes ridiculous, but always adorable."

"I wish Clint was here. I could totally have convinced him to help." Clint had taken off for some vacation time, but as usual he'd been vague about his destination. Thor was spending time with Jane, and Natasha had taken off on a solo mission. Bruce was staying at the Tower, but he'd been spending most of his time in the lab.

"Get Lucy to help. You haven't seen her in awhile."

"She's probably busy with Noah. I just realized how little time we spend outside of the Tower besides missions. Forget pranking Tony, let's spend the rest of the day outside of the Tower."

"Sounds good to me. What do you want to do after this?"

"Central Park and then some art museums?" she suggested.

"Perfect."

…

They walked the park for over an hour, walking hand-in-hand without speaking. The air was chilly but the snow had melted and spring was on its way. Aspen had muted her powers completely and it felt wonderful to just be normal again. She could pretend that there was nothing special about her at all.

"Do you ever wonder what our future will be like?" she asked Steve as they headed back to the car.

"Sometimes." He looked over at her, brow furrowed.

"I'd never really thought too far ahead," she admitted. "It's like we're finally settling down and starting our lives as Avengers. We have a home, we have friends. I've finally made peace with my family. But where do we go from there?"

"Are you thinking about what you saw?" Steve asked.

"My visions of the future? No, not really…maybe sort of. I guess I can't imagine a life where I'm not an Avenger, but are we going to be doing that the rest of our lives? Do we _want_ to?"

Steve was quiet for a minute. "I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead either," he finally said.

"I guess we should focus on the here and now. Seeing all those alternates made me realize there _are_ different paths to be taken. I just wonder which one we'll end up taking."

"Whatever path we choose, it will be together," he told her.

"Now that I never had any question of."

…

"You've been awfully quiet. Are you getting tired?" Steve asked as they pushed out of the art gallery and met the cold February air outside. The sun had set by now, and the pavement no longer held any lingering warmth.

"I've just been thinking." He quietly waited for her to continue, taking her gloved hand in his. "About the serum and the anti-serum. Whether or not to take it. I know it's something I need to think about, but I think I've made a decision. I'm not going to take it – yet – but I'm going to have my mom bring me a dose. I'm going to keep it with me. If I'm ever taken again, if anyone tries to control me, I'll take the serum. Then I won't be a danger to my team or to anyone else."

" _You're_ not the danger," Steve told her softly.

"I don't want to be, but we both know that sometimes the best of people can be turned into killers against their will. I don't want that to happen to me. I also don't want to get rid of the serum only to find myself in a position where I need it."

"I think it's a good decision. You don't have to feel pressured to make up your mind right now."

"Wow, I'm not doing a very good job being distracted," Aspen said, laughing at herself. "I always seem to find a way to bring us back to gloomy topics. I guess it's a special talent of mine."

"Maybe I'm not doing a very good job distracting you," Steve said, swinging her suddenly around so that she was in front of him and leaning down to kiss her. One hand still held hers while the other cradled her back.

"Public displays of affection?" Aspen asked when they pulled apart. "You _must_ really like me."

He smiled and pulled away though his eyes said he wanted to kiss her more. "Maybe it's time to head home," he suggested.

"I won't argue with that." Aspen let him drive them back to the Tower. They bypassed the entrance hall completely and went straight to their floor. The second the door was closed, Aspen grabbed Steve's collar and kissed him hard, pushing him against the wall. Her blood was rushing, heart pounding in her head. Steve let out a low groan when she deepened the kiss. "Are we getting closer to Tony's ideas?" Aspen asked, pulling back and giving him a teasing glance.

"Let's forget about Tony and focus on _us_ ," Steve suggested, pulling her into his arms again. This time he kissed her gently, hands cupping her jawline, his touch light and intoxicating. Then his hands fell to her shoulders and he pushed her coat off. Aspen ripped off her gloves and helped him take his own coat off. It was suddenly entirely too warm in the apartment, and Aspen shrugged out of her sweater letting the air cool the bare skin on her arms. They made their way to the couch, somehow keeping their lips together the whole time. Aspen sank down, pulling Steve with her. His body was flush with hers though he was careful not to put his full weight down. Aspen tangled her fingers in his short hair. Her skin was on fire everywhere he touched – her arms, her neck, her hips where her shirt rose up. She arched into him, and his hand was on her back, running up her spine. There was never anything rough about his touch even if she didn't care one way or the other. He was always gentle, always careful as if she would break if he held her too tightly. She didn't want him to be gentle tonight though. She kissed his jaw, and he leaned into her neck, kissing her shoulder. His pupils were dilated when she caught his eye. Then his lips were on hers again.

Aspen's fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt until she was able to push it off his arms. His plain white T went next, dropping to the floor. Her mind vaguely registered the trail of clothing they were leaving from the door to the living room, but she was distracted the next moment when his hands lifted her tank top up over her head. Now both his hands were on her back now. She put hand over his heart and found it was beating just as quickly as hers. Suddenly Aspen wanted to throw out traditions or whatever decisions they might have made an unspoken agreement about in the past. She loved this man. She loved everything about him, and she wasn't afraid to give him everything. He seemed to be thinking the same thing because he stopped kissing her suddenly and pulled back a little, eyes closed.

"Will you tell me when you want something more?" he asked her, opening his eyes and catching hers. They were wide and honest and, though his skin was flushed from their kissing, he wasn't blushing.

"I think I want something more," she said, her voice a little hoarse. He nodded, eyes widening slightly, burning bluer than she'd ever seen them before. Aspen drew herself back for a moment, forcing her heartbeat to slow. "But only if you're ready. I know that traditions are important to you, and they're important to me too. I'm happy just having you here with me. I don't expect anything more of you. If you want to wait, then so do I."

"I'm scared," he said, laughing a little at himself. "Is that crazy?"

"No, not at all," she assured him, running a hand across his cheek. "Why don't we just talk? We'll put on a movie or something."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't ever have to apologize," she said, catching his chin and gently pushing it up so he would look her in the eye. "Never. You tell me when _you're_ ready. When _you_ want more. I can wait."

"I do want that, and I want to give that to you. I just…" He lowered his lashes, looking suddenly bashful.

"You don't have to explain." She put a finger to his lips. "It's okay."

He smiled, leaning forward to press his lips to her forehead before putting an arm around her waist and pulling the blanket off the back of the couch. She tucked herself into his arms as he switched on Netflix. They sat like that, talking and reminiscing, until Aspen began to feel sleepy and they moved to the bedroom.

"I had the best Valentine's Day ever," Aspen told him after they'd changed and were pulling the warm blankets over themselves.

"Really? Even if we didn't scratch anything off Tony's to do list?" Steve asked with a smirk.

"I think we almost did," Aspen said with a sly smile. "But we are most definitely not going to share that with him. He can mind his own business."

"Agreed."

"So, back to work tomorrow?"

"I guess so. We may have taken care of one threat, but there are plenty more out there."

"Well lucky for me I have the greatest team in the history of team-ups," Aspen said. "I'm looking forward to it."


	15. Part Two: Avengers

**Author's Note:** I'm back! Sorry it took me so long to get going on part two. I had a cough for a month with a weekend of the flu included in there and then a job interview, so it's been a busy month. I got over being ill. And I got the job! (I was sure I was rambling on most of my answers, but I guess I did okay.) I'm going to be a part-time library clerk at the local library! I'm really excited. I practically live in that library anyway. I start tomorrow. I'm keeping my old job at the souvenir store because it's an expensive town to live in and I can't make it on one part-time job. We'll see how that goes. So far I'm working seven days a week for two weeks with one day off in between. Those are just my training hours coupled with trying to work my old job too. We're down to three people at the store. Running the store 10-6. So yeah, it's going to be an exhausting month. At least it's only four and five hour shifts. Sometimes both on the same day, but hey, I've worked two jobs before. I'm just so relieved to quit job searching. I spent three years trying to get hired on as a teacher (but they want to hire people who already have experience...) and then half a year searching for a full-time office job. I hate adulting. But this is a big step in the right direction for me, so I'm happy.

Anyway, I wrote like over 30 pages in the last 24 hours in this thing, so even though I'm only about five chapters in, I should be able to keep updating weekly! I'm almost to the Age of Ultron part! I lead up to it a little though. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Part Two: Avengers**

 **Prologue – Eight Years Ago**

They'd been having dinner when the shell hit their apartment. It had wracked the building with a tremulous force that sent plaster raining down upon the table. Their parents had pushed them out of the way as cracks formed in the floor. "Go!" their mother told them.

"Mama!" Wanda shouted. Her twin brother, Pietro, took her hand, pulling her away. The floor cracked further and, before her parents could get clear, collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in their home. "No!" Tears streamed down Wanda's cheeks and sobs wracked her body. Pietro pulled her toward their parents' bedroom and they hid under the bed, holding each other and trembling. Pietro was trying hard not to cry, but Wanda gave into her tears, weeping for their lost parents. "Are we going to die?" she asked her brother.

"We're not going to die. I'm going to keep you safe." She knew he couldn't make such a promise but she let his words comfort her. When the second shell hit, she knew they were dead. She closed her eyes and waited for the explosion. It would be quick. Maybe she wouldn't even feel any pain. The explosion never came though. Wanda opened her eyes and found herself staring at the white shell with letters written in bold black: **Stark Industries**. The building shifted, and bits of plaster hit the shell. It would go off, she thought to herself. Every tremble of the walls, every vibration in the floors, every breath she took. They waited for it to explode. They waited to die.

Two days passed and they didn't dare move until they realized they would die if they stayed. Wanda's mouth was parched with thirst and her stomach had never known such emptiness before, but the fear had passed, replaced by an acceptance. She pulled herself out from under the bed, ignoring Pietro's hoarse warnings. She stood, her legs cramping from keeping so still for so long. She held out a hand for her brother.

"We're not going to die today," she told him. She'd cried her tears for their parents. Now they were orphans and their home was destroyed. She looked at her brother, and he met her gazed with determination. She still had him, she still had her twin. He took her hand and she led him out of the room. The shell still did not explode. Pietro hesitated in the dining room, leaning down to pick up a small photo of them with their parents. It had somehow survived the explosion though the edges were singed. He put it in his pocket and they left behind the only home they'd ever known. As they made their way down the half-ruined stairs of their apartment, they feared they might find their parents at the bottom, buried under the rubble. All they found was crushed stone and the ruins of the building. Wanda thought she saw a hand reaching out from the stone, but Pietro pulled her away.

The daylight was blinding as they walked out onto the street. It pressed against Wanda's eyes until she felt her head might split open. Finally the street came into focus, and she saw the destruction the explosives had caused. One word was branded into the back of her mind: Stark. She'd heard of Tony Stark. He was on the television sometimes, an American who made weapons. Tony Stark had killed their parents. He had almost killed them. It was a thought that stayed with her for a long time.

…

 **April 2, 2014**

Wanda woke with a start. She hadn't dreamt about her parents in a long time. When she was younger, living on the streets with her brother, she had dreamt of them often. The years had taken away those memories until sometimes she needed to look at the picture Pietro kept of them to remember their faces.

Her body didn't hurt so much today when she moved. She rose from her cot and looked around her small, glass-enclosed cell. It was for her own safety, she knew. And for the safety of those who had made her this way. For the past few days her veins had burned like liquid fire and she'd been sure she was going to die just like eight years before when she'd waited for the shell to explode. She twisted her hands and red energy encapsulated them. So this is what they'd done to her. She'd heard them whispering that she would die, that the experimentation would kill her, that she wasn't strong enough. She'd proved them wrong. She'd already had her world stolen from her. She was stronger than she looked.

Pietro occupied the cell next to her. He was already awake, twitching with the desire to run, to move. She'd seen him on that second day, already learning to use his new abilities. He was fast. Inhumanly fast. She wanted to reach out and touch his hair, once dark, but now turned white. He looked changed and a new light burned in his eyes, but he was still her Pietro, her twin. She was still testing her own abilities, but she felt different. She felt… _powerful_. It was something she had never felt before. She had been powerless when her parents had fallen through the floor to their deaths. She'd been powerless when the shell from Stark Industries had landed in front of their faces. She'd been powerless at the countless protests she and her brother had attended. She'd been powerless to stop the war that was always raging in their city of Sokovia. It had been a hard life. They'd tried to make the best of it, tried to fight in any way they could. Sometimes they joined in riots, trying to drive the foreign invaders out of Sokovia. They protested Tony Stark and the Avengers and hated both for what they'd done to their parents. They sat in their tower, above the rest of the world and didn't take accountability for the destruction they'd wrought or the lives they'd taken. Perhaps Tony Stark had not fired those shells himself, but he'd built them. That was enough for the Maximoff twins to blame him. They'd lived with that hatred a long time, and Wanda sometimes wondered if it was worth it. They were no closer to bringing peace to their warring country. What could two teenagers do?

That was when a doctor had approached them with a proposition. They'd been noticed at the riots, at the protests. They'd been given an opportunity. They hadn't been alone. There were other volunteers; people tired of seeing their country at war and not having the power to stop it. The doctor offered them an opportunity to become powerful enough to stop it. Wanda had been skeptical at first. What he was offering them seemed impossible. No one could have that kind of power. It turned out Hydra did.

Pietro had convinced Wanda that this was their chance to make a difference, to avenge their parents. What more did they have really outside of their revenge? _Together_ , Pietro had told her. _We do this together_. A doctor named List conducted the experiments. He didn't use that word. He made it sound nicer than it was, less painful than a series of tests, less unknown whether or not they would survive. At the end of it all they _had_ survived, but they had been alone. The Hydra scientists tried to hide the bodies, but Wanda would awake in the night and see them carrying the body of one of her countrymen out of the laboratory. She didn't know why she and Pietro had survived and the others had not. Perhaps it was because they fought so hard to survive, because their mission in life wasn't over yet, because they had not had their revenge.

Her powers stirred within her at the thought of finally avenging their parents, of stopping the war that had consumed their city. When they'd first realized it was Hydra that had offered them this chance, they'd wondered if they'd made the right choice. They'd heard of Hydra by reputation, but Doctor List assured them that Tony Stark was no friend of theirs. How could she turn against the organization that had given her these powers? She reached out her consciousness, lifting a tray of food that sat on the table across from her. A red glow surrounded the tray as it lifted off the table and into the air. Wanda set the tray back down and met her brother's eyes from across her cell. A smile formed on her lips, and Pietro mirrored it. Wanda realized in that moment that she had stopped being afraid. They were survivors.

She turned her head as the leader of the Hydra cell came into view. He was neatly dressed with his trademark monocle over his right eye. Baron Strucker, they called him. Wanda had seen him a few times. He had not spoken to them, but now he addressed them directly. "Well," he said, looking pleased at the sight of them awake and on their feet. "Are you ready to begin your training?"

Wanda looked at Pietro who gave her a small nod. She turned back to Baron Strucker. "We're ready."


	16. The Battle of Sudan

**14 – The Battle of Sudan – March 28, 2015**

"Well this is a party." Tony Stark flew overhead, repulsor rays shooting in retaliation against the Hydra guns aimed at his new armor. The red and gold metal was shiny and, as of yet, unblemished. "You really know how to call 'em Romanoff."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to hog all the fun," Natasha replied, skidding across the ground as she dodged a blast from one of the Hydra weapons they were trying to take out.

"I'm surprised you hadn't taken them all down already," Clint said, notching an arrow and aiming at the weapon. The arrow exploded the second it made contact, rendering the weapon useless.

"Focus." Steve deflected bullets with his shield before tossing it at the agents firing at them. It spun in a neat arc, knocking all four agents out before returning to Steve's arm. "We can have fun later," he added as if sensing the eye-roll Tony was most likely giving him behind his facemask.

"This _isn't_ fun?" Aspen asked with a frown. She fired off a surge of power that ripped through the earth and uprooted another of the weapons.

"I think this is a grand time!" Thor said with a broad smile and wink at Aspen. He swung his hammer and then flung it at a line of Hydra agents. They went down like bowling pins.

"Says the demigod who lives for battle," Tony said. "How are we looking on the ground?"

"Hydra agents nearly down. We've got two out of four of the cannons down. Hold on." Steve ducked a moment later as a blast fired straight at him. It hit the dune behind him, spraying them with dirt. "We've got tanks incoming."

"I see them. They're bringing in the heavy artillery. Good. That means we're doing our job right."

"We're doing our job right if they bring in _more_ soldiers?" Clint asked.

"Means they're scared."

"They don't look scared," Steve said, glancing up at Tony. "We need to end this before they bring in all their guns."

Suddenly a roar shook the ground, and they looked around at each other in surprise. "Was that what I think it was?" Tony asked.

"Uh, yeah, unless you know any other giant green monsters with rage issues," Clint said. "The Hulk is on the loose."

"They must have found Banner," Steve said. He hadn't joined the battle, staying behind in the jet. He was there for back up, but clearly Hydra had forced his hand.

"He'll be all right," Tony said. "In fact, he could take care of these tanks."

As if in answer, a giant green shape appeared on the horizon, running straight at the tanks. They turned to fire at him, but the bullets ricocheted off his green skin. He roared, getting angrier by the minute. The Hydra soldiers realized too late that he was bulletproof. The Hulk took out two of the tanks, running straight through them. He grabbed a third and hurled it at the fourth.

"Well, that was effective," Natasha said.

"One more. I'm on it." Clint fired another explosive arrow toward the last tank. Aspen watched it soar true, but a second later the Hulk ran straight into the path of the arrow as he reached for the last tank. The arrow hit Hulk directly in the back resulting in a smoky explosion. Clint winced though they knew the arrow wouldn't hurt the Hulk. After the smoke cleared, they saw the tank was in ruins but the Hulk was turning to find his next target, eyes stopping on Clint. He growled, and Aspen heard Clint let out a string of curses under his breath. "Hold on a minute, big guy! Can we talk about this?" Clint asked, bracing himself.

"Hulk, stand down!" Steve said, tensing. He bent his legs in a defensive stance, shield held outward as if prepared to fend him off. Hulk started toward Clint, ignoring Steve altogether.

Before anyone could act, however, Natasha stepped in front of Clint, blocking Hulk's passage. The green beast slid to a stop, sending up a cloud of sandy dust. "Hey, hold up," Natasha said. "You did well, but you can stop now. You've done your job. Time to calm down." She held out a hand. The Hulk growled a little, but it sounded resigned rather than aggressive, and the Avengers watched as he stood down, calming at Natasha's words. "We've taken down their weapons," she said to the others, "but if we don't take out the brains behind them we're just going to have to fight them again."

"Headquarters are about a quarter mile west of here," Tony said, hovering above them. "They're either rallying or evacuating."

"Then let's make up their minds for them," Steve said, "and take them out."

"You got this, big guy?" Clint asked the Hulk. "Sorry about the arrow." He got a grunt in return that was probably the closest he'd get to a response.

"He's good to go," Tony replied for him. "Let's move out."

"Feels good to be working as a team again, doesn't it?" Steve asked, falling into line with Aspen as they headed west.

"It does. I feel like we're working pretty well together – maybe not seamlessly, but as well as any team could." More than ever she felt like she had a place there and the sense of belonging she'd gained in the last few months since their encounter with the inhumans had only grown. She was still on the fence about her powers, but her mom was flying in to New York in a couple of days to give her the anti-serum sample. She'd mentioned that there was something important they needed to discuss regarding the serum, but she hadn't wanted to talk about it over the phone. Aspen was trying not to dwell on it. She'd have her answers and her anti-serum soon enough.

"Never thought I'd still be fighting Hydra, but it's nice to have a team like I did before." His voice faltered a little on 'before', and Aspen knew he was thinking about Bucky. They'd still come across no signs of his best friend. It seemed as if he really was a ghost story after all.

"Well, I guess they just don't know how to learn a lesson," Aspen said. "We'll just have to teach it again."

Steve smiled at her response. "You'd have sent them all packing if you'd been with us back then." Aspen knew he was teasing her but she smiled all the same.

"You know it."

"Can you two cut down on the cute overload?" Clint threw their way. "It's killing my fight mood."

Aspen made a rude gesture in his direction, and Natasha tried to hide her smile.

" _Play nice, kids_ ," came Tony's voice on their comms. " _We're gonna head straight in. They already know we're here._ "

"Probably hoping their weapons are still distracting us," Clint said, notching his bow and holding it ready.

The compound was over the next ridge and it appeared the Hydra agents were attempting to flee. Aspen was sure it was in an attempt to save their research and weapons, but possibly also because they knew imminent defeat when they saw it. Tony was already flying ahead to waylay the moving vehicles. Thor took to the air to join him.

"Hulk, can you get those doors open?" Steve asked, looking up at Bruce's alter ego. In response, the Hulk ran straight at the front of the compound, giant fists aimed for the doors. There was an explosion of rubble when his fists made contact, and Aspen could feel the force of it vibrating through the ground. If that wasn't enough to get a surrender out of Hydra then she didn't know what was.

"I'm going to help Tony and Thor. Nat, Clint, and Aspen, you take the compound. We don't want anything slipping past us. Hulk, see if you find anyone trying to sneak out the back door."

"You're pretty sexy when you give orders like that," Aspen told him.

Steve's cheeks reddened, and Clint groaned. "Focus," was all Steve said, but Aspen didn't miss the smile on his lips as he turned away.

"Didn't we talk about cute overload?" Clint asked as he, Natasha, and Aspen made their way into the building through the ruins of the doorway. "Find a room when this is over, why don't you?"

"Spoilsport." Aspen gave his shoulder a playful push.

"What's the status?" Natasha asked, pulling them away from their teasing. Aspen reached out her senses.

"Thirty bodies, all anxious to get out of here. There's something they don't want us getting our hands on." She frowned, feeling out the items in question. "I can't get a reading on it. It's not something I recognize."

"Meaning?" Clint asked.

"Meaning it's made of a component I don't have knowledge of, and I'm the daughter of scientists, so…"

"So it's something they cooked up here or something not of this world."

"Loki's scepter?" Natasha asked hopefully. They'd been after that and the illusive Strucker but so far they'd found no trace of either, just Hydra bases to sate their appetite.

"No. That has a very unique energy signature. Tony's suit would have picked up on that right away." The thought of the scepter in Strucker's hands had been a thorn in their sides since they'd been made aware of its disappearance from the SHIELD lab where it had been under analysis. Aspen still wasn't sure why SHIELD had been studying it – she could see the scientific merits, yes, but here it was in the wrong hands again because Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD. It had been agreed upon that, when they did find the scepter, it would be going back to Asgard with Thor where it belonged.

"They're in the west section of the compound," Aspen told them.

"If we hurry we might get their treasures."

There were six armed guards stationed at the doors, but Clint had them coughing and passing out with a well-placed gas arrow. Covering their mouths and noses, they stepped around the guards and entered a lab that was swarming with Hydra agents. Boxes and crates were being packed into the back of a truck with haste. There was a crash somewhere outside and shouts, distracting the agents from the three Avengers who had entered the room.

"Sounds like the Hulk found the place okay. I hope he can calm down after this," Clint said, notching an arrow.

"He will," Natasha said at once. Aspen glanced at the redheaded Avenger. She'd been spending a lot of time working with Bruce on techniques for staying calm in stressful situations. He'd come a long way under her tutelage. Aspen wasn't so worried about him turning in moments of duress anymore. Natasha was always quick to defend him, and Aspen was beginning to wonder if their trust exercises had turned into something more.

Clint released his arrow, causing a minor explosion at the back of the truck where the goods were being loaded. Natasha brought out her guns and lessened the number of Hydra agents while Aspen caused their weapons to scald their hands. The sounds of the Hulk expressing his rage outside continued until all the agents were running around in a panic.

Aspen knocked a group of Hydra agents off their feet, sending them crashing into some of the boxes that had been filled and were waiting to be loaded. Something metal spilled out of one of the boxes. Aspen sent off another surge of energy at the nearest agents before kneeling down to inspect the contents of the box. The hair on the back of her neck rose as she saw what it was the Hydra agents had been hastily trying to escape with.

"Guys," she said as Natasha and Clint took down the last of the agents together.

"What have you got?" Clint asked.

Aspen held up a piece of armor. "This is Chitauri armor," she told them. "That's why I couldn't get a reading on it. It's alien."

"Guess we know where they got that," Clint said resentfully. "But what were they planning on doing with it?"

"Nothing good." Natasha picked up one of the helmets. "It's like rubbing it in our faces that they had access to all this. It was our job to keep it out of Hydra hands but here we are."

"Well this time it's not going back to Hydra," Aspen said.

"Compound secure," Natasha spoke into a comm.

" _Coming to you_ ," was Tony's reply.

They heard the 'clank' of his suit hitting the concrete outside and he entered the compound a moment later, leaving the suit outside on sentry mode.

"What have we got?" he asked.

Aspen handed him a piece of the Chitauri armor in answer. "This."

Tony turned it over in his hand, brow furrowed and eyes dark. "Not something I'd forget in a hurry."

"Me neither." She sometimes forgot that Tony had entered another universe when he'd taken the missile through the Tesseract's portal. She didn't think for a second that he'd forgotten though. He was staring down at the armor still, so Aspen put a hand on his arm to get his attention. He shook his head before giving her a smile and tossing the armor back into the box. "Let's make sure Hydra doesn't get their hands on this again," he said. "We'll load it all up on the jet and keep it safe at the Tower."

…

It didn't take long to load the Chitauri armor onto the Avenjet. It helped that Hydra had already done most of the work by loading up the trucks. They simply drove the loaded trucks to the jet. The Hydra agents – those who were still alive – had been relieved of their weapons and left tied up in the compound. Local authorities had been notified, but the Avengers planned on being far away when they arrived.

"Jarvis, set course for home," Tony said as the jet lifted into the air.

Bruce was back though still looking faintly green after his transformation. It took a lot out of him, but even now Natasha was at his side offering him the headphones that helped calm him down. Bruce shut his eyes as the classical music blocked out all other sounds. Natasha touched a hand to his shoulder before standing and going over to talk to Clint. Steve had been watching her carefully lately, curiosity piqued by her growing trust with Bruce. It had started out tentative, and Steve knew that was partially because Bruce was afraid of hurting her as the Hulk, but the Hulk seemed to have a soft side for Natasha too. After their time working together at SHIELD, especially after the Hydra takeover, Steve counted Natasha as a close friend. She didn't always share and there was still a long list of things Steve didn't know about her, but they trusted each other with their lives and that was more valuable than any secrets. Seeing her open up to someone else made Steve happy, and Bruce was a kind and gentle soul despite the green rage monster that sometimes took over. If anything, Natasha had helped prove that the Hulk wasn't a monster but a valuable member of the team.

"Penny for your thoughts." Aspen took the seat next to him.

"Just thinking about how smoothly that went," he returned.

"One more Hydra base down, half a million to go or so it seems. They breed like mice."

"There has to be an end eventually." He hoped. "I feel like we should be getting closer to Strucker, but I have no idea if we really are."

"He certainly knows how to hide. He's like Where's Waldo without the stripes."

"Did you just compare Strucker to Where's Waldo?" Tony asked, giving her a look.

"The man knows how to hide," Aspen defended.

"He'll be in prison stripes soon enough," Tony assured her.

"I worry what he's doing with Loki's scepter in the mean time," Thor spoke up. "Such a weapon is not meant for mere mortals to fool with."

"That's the problem with Hydra," Steve said. "They believe they transcend mortality. They like to play at being gods."

"It'll bite them in the end," Aspen said, and Steve hoped she was right.

…

"I'm going to change out of this uniform," Steve told Aspen after they'd reached the Tower. Tony was instructing his employees to take the armor to his secure lock up. He'd also informed them that he was having a small party to celebrate their successful mission. Only Tony Stark could have a party planned before they even arrived home. Steve was feeling tired, but Tony had invited Sam and it would be good to see his friend.

"Mmm, but I love a man in uniform," Aspen said as she followed him into the elevator. She smirked at him, cornering him against the wall and putting a hand over the star on his suit. He could feel his heartbeat pick up tempo like it always did when Aspen flirted with him. He'd never excelled at flirting, but Aspen knew just how to make the heat rise in his cheeks. He sometimes suspected she and Tony had a contest going to see who could embarrass him more. So far it was a tie though he minded a whole lot less when it was Aspen trying to make him blush.

He cleared his throat. Aspen smiled, very aware of the effect she had on him. "I always feel like Jarvis is going to start scolding us if we make out in the elevator," he told her.

She laughed. "We wouldn't want that. He might force us to take the stairs." She pulled her hand back, but Steve caught her waist and pulled her into his chest. He rested his fingers on her hips.

"Only twenty floors to go," he said, glancing at the number on the wall. Aspen's lips curved up in a smile.

"Are you implying that in twenty floors the 'no kissing rule' will be over?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. In truth Tony's elevator was very fast, so it slowed to a stop, dinging to let them know they had reached their destination before he could answer.

"I guess so," he said.

"So how big is this party supposed to be?" Aspen asked him doubtfully as they entered their apartment. Phoenix came trotting up, tail held high in the air, vocals at full throttle. Steve reached down to stroke her back before resting his shield against the wall.

"Small. But you know Tony."

"He thinks everything is a cause for celebration in the form of a big party."

"Well, I guess we'll find out," Steve said wearily.

…

The party was in full swing when Steve and Aspen arrived. As promised, it was small which was a relief. Steve immediately went to greet Sam, clasping his hand. "Hey, Sam."

"Hey yourself. Good to see you. Aspen."

"Hey, Sam." Sam pulled her into a hug.

"Still running around with this guy?" he asked, smiling at Steve over Aspen's head.

"Yeah, I can't seem to shake him," Aspen replied, wrapping her arm around Steve's.

"How's Phoenix?"

"A terror," Tony interjected, passing by with Pepper at his side. He had not warmed up to the cat which might have had something to do with her shedding all over his suit right before a press conference, but more likely he just wasn't an animal lover.

"No!" Aspen protested. "She's good. She basically follows Steve and me everywhere. She'd come on missions if we let her."

"She'd make a good sidekick. Tony mentioned you just got back from a mission."

"Yeah, we took out another Hydra base. This one had some pretty nasty laser guns and was trying to get away with enough Chitauri armor to furnish a small army," Steve told him.

"Those are the ugly aliens that invaded New York, right?" Sam asked.

"Those are the ones."

"What were they doing with the armor?" He snagged a couple of beers for himself and Steve as a server passed.

"Thanks," Steve said, accepting the bottle. "We're not sure. Possibly utilizing it as armor or trying to figure out what it's made of. It's no vibranium, but it holds up in a fight."

"Makes me wonder what else they snagged from SHIELD," Clint said, walking up and handing Aspen an iced tea. "Hey, Sam."

"What all did SHIELD have?" Sam asked, shaking Clint's hand in greeting.

"Weapons and armor," Aspen put in. "I know they had that at the very least. They tried to collect everything after the battle but some of the weapons went missing. It's more than likely that they brought in their jets and probably even the leviathans."

"Those were fun," Clint said, taking a swig of his drink.

"You think Hydra got their hands on those?" Steve asked Aspen. He hadn't thought of that.

"Why not? It's the ultimate weapon. Space-turtle-eel-thingy and all."

"Would they be able to power them?" Sam asked.

"With the right power source," Aspen replied, exchanging a glance with Steve.

"Loki's scepter." That was not a comforting thought.

"Maybe. We don't know that for sure, but that scepter is alien too. I'd bet all of Clint's arrows that it could power the Chitauri weaponry."

"I'd bet all of Tony's pocket squares that you're right," Clint added. "I've seen what that scepter can do up close."

"One step forward, ten steps back," Sam said sympathetically.

"Seems that way," Steve agreed.

"But, hey, one more base down. That's what we're celebrating tonight. Where's Natasha?" Sam scanned the room for the redheaded spy.

"I think I saw her talking to Banner," Clint said.

"Is there something going on between them?" Steve had to ask. If anyone knew it was Clint. For a long time Steve had thought Clint and Natasha had something for each other but it'd become clear that they were just best friends.

"You noticed that too?" Aspen asked.

"Not that she's said," Clint replied, glancing over to where Natasha and Bruce sat talking. "But she doesn't tell me everything."

"I could see it," Aspen said. "He's so sweet and mellow. She needs more people like that in her life who will treat her right." Clint made a non-committal noise into his bottle, and Aspen hit him in the arm. "You know I'm right."

"If you were wrong, I'd know better than to say so," he said.

"You make it sound like I'm bossy or something."

"You said it, not me," Clint said, backing away before she decided to hit him again.

"You know, the world would be interested in seeing what you guys _really_ act like when you're not out there saving the world," Sam said, grinning at the banter. "Have you ever thought about starting a reality show?"

Clint choked on his beer. "You've got to be kidding! That would be the most ridiculously boring show ever."

"Hey, the people want to know who you are. You are aware of all the toys and merchandise out there with your faces and symbols plastered all over them, right? I'm just saying, a lot of people want to know more about you."

"That's why we keep it private," Clint told him. "We don't like that kind of attention."

"Well, most of us don't," Steve said, glancing over at Tony who was having what looked to be a rousing discussion with Rhodey. "Anyway, I'm not comfortable with all that attention. All those strangers wanting to know me… I'm just a name to them, not a real person."

"Do they have action figures for all of us?" Aspen asked.

"Well, no one seems to know what your official superhero name is," Sam said. "Is it Miss America or Lady America?"

"Or Girl-Who's-Too-Good-For-a-Superhero-Name," Clint muttered under his breath.

"Are you serious? Those are the ones that are sticking?" Aspen asked, looking mildly upset. "I didn't pick a name because I have no idea what defines me and I don't want to sound like a Captain America roadie. No offense." She smiled at Steve.

"None taken," he returned, nudging her. "I like Lady America though. It makes us sound like a team."

"We _are_ a team, but that's besides the point."

"Well, until you choose, there is an alarming lack of merchandise for you," Sam told her.

"Good. Ugh, I don't want my face plastered on things. People don't even really know what I look like. I want to keep it that way. It's too surreal."

"People like to latch onto something that's both incredible and believable," Sam said. "You guys are legends, yet you're real. You're out there saving lives but at the end of the day you're human too. People idolize you for it."

"You can sign up anytime, get a Falcon action figure going," Clint said, clapping him on the back.

Sam laughed. "I'm not ready for that yet. My mom might have a heart attack if she saw my face on a T-shirt."

"It's disconcerting thinking that outside these walls people are idolizing us and turning us into lunch boxes and toys – well those of us with superhero names," Aspen said, casting a glance at Clint. "We're just people. Okay, not really normal people, but we still eat and drink and sleep and sometimes have to blow our noses."

"You paint such an image of us," Clint said, giving her an affectionate nudge.

"I guess you're used to that," Sam said, turning back to Steve. "During the 40s they had Captain America comics and you did those movies."

"Captain America was a symbol of hope during the war. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the screaming girls and the guys getting Tony's face tattooed on their backs," Aspen said.

"What about my face on someone's back?" Tony joined the conversation.

"We're talking about the Avengers craze that goes on outside these walls," Aspen said. "And how we hide in our Tower trying not to get too much attention."

"Are you saying you want to do a press conference because I can set that up."

"No, no thank you. I'm happy behind these walls with the people you invite in," Aspen assured him. "It's a crazy world out there. I'm much more comfortable facing global threats than fan girls who probably want to hurt me because I'm dating Captain America."

"Or fan boys who want to hurt me," Steve told her with a sly grin.

"Ha! They don't even know who I am." But her cheeks colored a little.

"Then pick a name," Tony suggested casually.

"I have a name. It's Aspen," she retorted.

"So you want the whole world to know exactly who you are?" Tony asked.

"Don't they already? SHIELD files leaked. I'm the daughter of two famous scientists whose information also leaked. Besides, it's not like they _really_ know me. I don't care if they know my name."

"I'm just warning you – all the action figures are going to have cool names like Captain America and Black Widow and you're just gonna be Aspen."

"Let's change the topic," Aspen said.

"So what's your next move?" Sam asked. "Any leads on Strucker?"

"No, unfortunately," Steve said. "We can find Hydra, but we can't seem to find him."

"He's more illusive than a white hare in winter," Tony put in. Steve shot him a look.

"Yeah and sooner or later that's really going to come back and bite us," he said. Was Tony even taking this seriously? He hadn't been there for Red Skull or when Hydra had tried to overtake SHIELD. Steve really hoped this wasn't just another chance for him to show off his Iron Man suits.

"He can't hide forever," Aspen said, her hand sliding around his waist almost like a restraint in case he had any ideas of having it out with Tony. Steve smiled to himself. He could deal with Tony – most of the time – but it was good to know Aspen was there to keep him in check.

"I've been tracking Hydra's movements for awhile now." Natasha had come up to join the conversation while Bruce hung back to speak with Pepper. "There's a Doctor Jensen who was behind the weaponry at that last base. She didn't make it out. The more masterminds we take out, the closer we get to crippling Hydra."

"Cut them off at the knees," Clint agreed.

Natasha nodded. "They know they have to face us eventually. Strucker knows it."

"The question is, what is he preparing for us in the mean time?" Steve asked.

"Probably something horrible." Aspen's fingers tightened on Steve's waist and he brushed her back.

"We're prepared for whatever he wants to throw at us," he assured her.

"You should suit up some time and join us," Tony suggested to Sam. "I can make some modifications on the suit."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for the big league, but if you need me, you know where to find me," Sam said. Steve knew the idea of being an Avenger intimidated him, but Sam was more than ready. Steve and Natasha wouldn't have made it out of the Hydra takeover without him. A lot of people wouldn't have. Like Steve, Sam was a soldier and being an Avenger was something that transcended orders and duty. It was something that couldn't be classified. Their duty was to the world but a lot of times that meant skirting around laws and going in without permission. So far the world seemed content to let them, but he was worried a day would come when it wouldn't.


	17. Blackout

**Author's Note:** Long chapter for you! On a completely different note, I LOVE my new job at the library. So much. I got to shelve books (picture me running through my ABCs in my head as I shelve them...) which is so relaxing. I got to enter in some fake patrons for new library cards and set a record for doing it perfectly! My supervisor is the nicest. I love it. But I am definitely really really busy all of a sudden. There is so much to learn. My brain is so full of information. And the working two jobs makes for very long days. But that's okay. I have still found time to write and read and do all the things I love, so I think it's going to work out. I have the day off today so I am being lazy before my next 7 day work week starts tomorrow.

Thank you for reading!

* * *

 **15 – Blackout – March 30, 2015**

"Hey, Mom. It's so good to see you," Aspen said, hugging her mother as she walked out of the airport terminal.

"You too, Penny," Ava Tolvar said, holding her daughter tightly. "It's been far too long. Vi sends her love." She turned to Steve. "Steve, I missed you too." She embraced him, her chin hardly reaching his shoulder.

"It's nice to see you, Ava," Steve said, smiling at her. "Did you have a good flight?"

"A little turbulent, but not bad. The layovers are the worst when there are no decent stores in the airport."

"Sounds rough. Well, I can promise that Avengers Tower offers all the luxuries thanks to Tony Stark," Aspen told her. "Let's get your bag."

They moved to the baggage claim where Steve snagged Ava's bag and carried it out to the car. His ball cap and sunglasses were an adorable attempt to blend in, but no one recognized them. They got into Aspen's Audi and Steve drove them back to Avengers Tower.

"I'd forgotten how big New York is," Ava said from the backseat. "Phoenix is big, but not like this."

"I always feel so sheltered in the Tower," Aspen admitted. "We don't get out very often when we're not on missions. I mean, Steve and I have been doing some volunteer work at a couple of children's hospitals, but we don't go out shopping like normal people."

"I suppose if you don't want to be recognized, that would be difficult. What do you do for the children? You didn't tell me you were volunteering."

"Oh, we go in and talk to them about being a good person and helping others. Steve sometimes wears his suits and lets the kids hold his shield. I'm just sort of there for support."

"She's being modest," Steve said. "All the little girls want to be just like her. You wouldn't know it, but she's really good with the kids. She just acts like she has no idea how to interact with them."

"I don't!" Aspen protested. "I was an only child and definitely did not babysit when I was younger. I have literally no experience with little kids. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. Steve, however, is so adorable with the kids. They _love_ him." She fluttered her eyelashes at him teasingly.

"Well maybe some day you'll have kids of your own and you'll be wonderful parents," Ava said.

Aspen blushed. "Oh, Mom, not that conversation! Please don't start that. I think I'd make a terrible parent. I have no idea what to do. Hand me a crying baby and I would just stand there – possibly also start crying." She put her face in her hands, embarrassed.

Ava laughed. "It's okay, Aspen. I'm not talking about in a year. I'm just being open-minded."

"Well be a little less open-minded, please." Aspen didn't dare look at Steve's face. It wasn't like they'd discussed their lives that far into the future. She'd barely gotten her own life in order; she wasn't ready to be responsible for someone else's life. She already felt responsible for the world, an Atlas copycat of sorts. Thankfully her mom changed the subject.

"I hope I'm not imposing in the middle of a mission," she said.

"No, we just got back from one. Strucker's proving difficult to track."

"You still believe he has that scepter?" Ava asked. "The one that crazed man used?"

Aspen winced. Her mother had no idea that Aspen had once been close to Loki – if you could call it that. To her, like the rest of the world, he was a villain. Steve caught the wince, his hand tightening ever so slightly on the wheel. He'd never judge her for what she'd felt, but he agreed with the general public for the most part when it came to Loki. When Thor had first informed them that Loki was dead after saving his brother and Jane's lives, Steve had been sympathetic. After they'd left the others he'd been sure to make sure she was all right. Aspen could hardly tell everyone that Loki was, in fact, still alive having faked his own death and taken over the throne of Asgard. It'd nearly broken her heart when Thor had shared the news because whatever Loki had done, his brother had still loved him. She'd nearly confessed more than once but such news would result in an upheaval on Asgard and one less Avenger on Earth. The longer she waited the more impossible it felt to tell them. She owed Loki her life after he'd helped her learn to control her abilities. After all he'd done – good and bad – she didn't want to betray him. But that also meant she was betraying her team in a way. If she ever suspected Loki of wanting to harm the Earth again she'd tell her team in a heartbeat, consequences to herself be damned.

"That's the one," she said aloud. "I think it's worse off in Hydra's hands. They're more likely to experiment with its power."

"Can you track the power source?" Ava asked.

"We did that with the Tesseract and it's the same power signature, but so far we've had no luck. We can't search everywhere and we don't have a target area yet. We're still looking though."

"It's a good thing you have an expert on all things Asgardian on your team."

"It's a comfort. We've all been affected by that scepter in some way, some more than others," she said, thinking of Clint. "It just seems like we've been chasing our tails for a long time. It's got to come to a head soon. I'm just not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"It'd be a lot worse without the Avengers. I can't tell you how many requests I get for a dose of Superhero Serum."

"Really?" Aspen turned around in her seat.

"Everyone knows about it after SHIELD fell. I tell them no, of course, but everyone wants to be a hero these days. I hear a lot of stories about vigilantes popping up all over."

"The last thing we need is another disaster like the Elite," Aspen said. "Who's going to be accountable if those people get hurt? Or if other people get hurt along the way?"

"That's the idea of a vigilante – they're accountable for their own actions for better or for worse."

Aspen didn't want to shoot down those people who wanted to help others but, like the inhumans she'd met, those people most likely needed training. Too many people running around wanting to fight crime would lead to chaos. "It's a tricky concept," Aspen said. "I suppose it could be argued 'who gave the Avengers the right to fight crime?' now that SHIELD is gone."

"Fewer people question you though," Ava pointed out. "You've proven yourself to be capable quite publically. Have you thought about adding to your team?"

"We've been trying to convince Steve's friend Sam – the one who helped him and Nat during the incident in DC, but he's a little hesitant. It's a huge commitment and such a different lifestyle, but he'll come around eventually. Otherwise, no, I guess not. It's not like we're against outsiders joining but things are complicated enough without bringing someone new in. I feel like it's our responsibility to end this whole thing with Strucker and the scepter."

"You've grown so confident," Ava told Aspen. "You're a leader now. Your team is lucky to have you." Aspen could hear the pride in her mother's voice, and it made her smile.

"She definitely keeps us all in line," Steve put in, and Aspen smiled wider, pleased by his praise.

"Usually that's just telling Tony to shut up and Steve not to punch him in the face. Though, to be fair, they've been playing nice lately." She'd witnessed all of the Avengers growing closer over the last year. It was one of the most rewarding parts of the job – seeing the bonds grow and spending time around the people she'd grown to love like family. To the rest of the world they might be these super human heroes, but to her they were incredibly human and the greatest friends she could ever have hoped for. She'd lived most of her life not fitting in and not wanting to, but now she realized that she was exactly where she was meant to be as if everything had been leading up to this point.

When they reached the Tower, Steve took Ava's luggage up to the guest suite Tony had prepared. Aspen took her mom up to the lounge. The sun was streaming through the floor to ceiling windows and New York glimmered beyond, the streets crowded with mid-afternoon traffic. Aspen had decided she liked observing it from on high, a witness to the organized chaos without really taking part in it.

She didn't know where Natasha or Bruce were. Thor was visiting Jane in whatever remote location she was studying in and Clint had taken a leave of absence for a couple of days.

"It's quiet here," Ava said. "I suppose it's nice to have some time to yourself outside of missions."

"Sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. Clint and I play video games a lot. I've spent quite a bit of time continuing to catch Steve up on TV and movies. And we train a lot of course."

They fell silent and the weight of why Aspen's mom had come filled the room. "There's something I need to discuss with you, Aspen. About the serum. It can wait or-"

"No, I want to hear what you have to say. Let's sit down." She settled onto her favorite chair while her mom sat across from her. "Is there something wrong with the anti-serum?"

"No, it's not that," Ava said. "The anti-serum is complete. Vi and I ran multiple tests to ensure it was correct. What I wanted to talk to you about is the serum itself. I didn't realize this until we started studying it more closely – Vi and I needed to make sure the anti-serum was perfect. You're the first to have the serum in your system for so long, so we didn't know long term effects."

"What sort of effects?" Aspen didn't like the sound of that.

"The serum, if in the body long enough, will become permanent. It binds to your DNA in a way that makes it impossible to eradicate." Ava was watching Aspen closely as she spoke.

"How long do I have until it's permanent?" Aspen asked. She'd hoped she could take her time in making her decision, but this meant she only had limited time.

"It's hard to say. It's most likely different for each individual. I'd say six months at the least, but no more than twelve."

"That's not much time. I don't know what the future holds, what situations will arise when the serum will save lives." Aspen felt the weight of her decision, made heavier by her mother's news.

"Do _you_ need the serum?" Ava asked. "That's the real question. It's your choice and you need to make it for you, not someone else."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me, but this is my job. Saving people, helping the world, taking down Hydra… My powers come in handy for that. I'm afraid that without them a day may come when we face something so terrible that skill alone won't be enough." She hadn't told her mom about her visions when she'd been inhabited by Modok, but they'd stayed with her no matter how hard she'd tried to shake them from her mind. "I feel like the choice is bigger than me."

"You've learned to shut your powers off when you want to, right?"

"Yes, but it's not the same as just being normal." She laughed humorlessly. "As if I'll ever be normal."

"I don't doubt your abilities as an Avenger with your skills and heart alone," Ava told her, leaning forward. "But maybe you really feel like this choice is between being normal and being an Avenger. I don't know all your teammates well, but I know they'd consider you one of them whether you had the serum or not."

"I didn't have it during the battle."

"That's right." They looked up as Steve entered the room. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt," he said, but Aspen motioned for him to come sit with them. He sat down next to Ava. "But she's right. This isn't about you being an Avenger or not. You are one already. Nothing can change that unless you decide to stop being one. It's not about who's strongest or who has the greatest powers. It's about doing all you can with what you have to make a difference in this world."

Ava reached into her purse and pulled out a small vial. She held it out to Aspen. "This is the anti-serum. I have more in case something happens to this one, but I'll give this one to you so you can have it." Aspen reached out and took the vial. Small plates of metal reinforced the glass to prevent easy shattering. "If you do decide to take it, just drink this dose and the effects will happen within a few hours. You'll feel weak after, so make sure you're somewhere safe. You might have a headache for a few days, but there shouldn't be any other side effects."

"Thank you." She tucked it into her pocket.

"I'll always feel responsible for what happened to you," Ava said, eyes growing glossy. "Your father and I created that serum. We trusted Stewart. But you fought anyway, and I'm so proud of you. But I don't ever want you to feel like you have to live with that forever."

"I've learned to use it. I've turned Stewart's violation into something that helps others, and I'm glad for that. I just…I guess I don't know what I'll want far into the future. I don't want this to be a burden."

"You'll know when the time comes," Ava assured her. Aspen wasn't so sure, but she smiled anyway and dropped the subject.

"Enough about me," she said. "I don't want you to think I only invited you out here to deliver that. Steve and I wanted to take you out to dinner and then there's an expo at the museum tomorrow about some famous scientists we thought you might be interested in-"

Steve's phone beeped, interrupting Aspen's itinerary. "Sorry." He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned down at the screen. "It's Tony. There's been a break in at one of his facilities. He wants my help."

"Did something get stolen?" Aspen asked. And didn't Tony have some of the best security in the world? How could someone just break in?

"He wasn't sure yet. He said whoever broke in seemed to know everything about the facility."

"An employee?"

"Tony screens his employees pretty thoroughly, but then again, so did SHIELD," Steve said with a shrug.

"What about me?" Aspen asked. "Do you need more backup?"

"You've got company. You can sit this one out. I doubt there's a whole lot we can do at this point. Tony can try to figure out what got stolen and try to track it."

"Okay, be careful," Aspen told him. She didn't like being left out of missions, but there wasn't really a solid reason for her to go. She leaned up to kiss him.

"I will be. Sorry to leave like this," Steve said to Ava. "Hopefully I'll be home by tonight. Bruce and Natasha will be here, so you'll have some company."

"It's not like you get a day off from being an Avenger," Ava said, smiling. Aspen sat back down but she was distracted. "You worry about him when he goes on missions without you," Ava noted.

"I know it's silly. He can more than handle himself, what's a tiny thing like me going to do to help?"

Ava shook her head. " A _lot_ ," she said, squeezing Aspen's hand. "But you're right, he can handle himself. Although a solo mission with Tony might be tense."

Aspen sighed. "They can work well together if Tony doesn't antagonize him too much. Tony will be worried about whatever was stolen and how someone got past his security."

"Why don't we go out to dinner tomorrow when Steve's back," Ava suggested. "We can order pizza tonight and watch a movie. Invite Bruce and Natasha to join us."

"Okay, that sounds good," Aspen said, grateful that her mom had picked up on her mood change. "Sorry for being so glum. I never thought I'd turn into one of those girls who just mopes when her boyfriend is away."

"Well, Steve's not just any boyfriend," Ava said. "And you two have spent most of your time together since you met. Most people need space from time to time, but you've both learned about losing people the hard way and very early on, so instead of giving each other space, you constantly remind each other that you're there."

"I thought you were a scientist, not a psychologist," Aspen said with a smile.

"Psychology is the science of the mind," Ava replied. "Have you thought about going back to college at all or are you decided that isn't something you want to do?"

"If I ever go back it won't be to pursue a degree in science," Aspen answered her mom's real question. "Maybe something else, but right now it's not relevant to my life. You don't need a degree to be an Avenger, and now more people know who I am."

"It's not because of Stewart is it?" Ava asked.

"That I'm not going back? No. I know not every professor is secretly some mad scientist waiting to snatch me up and inject me with a life-altering serum. I do sometimes wonder what I would do if a time ever came when the world no longer needed the Avengers. Where would that leave me? I'm not sure I really know who I am outside of the team anymore. It's been a part of my life for so long now. I don't think I could go back to a normal life. The last time I had a semi-normal life was in high school. The same could be said of Steve. I don't think he'd have any idea what to do with himself either. He was born to be a soldier, to help others. I know there are other ways of helping people outside of the Avengers, but we're part of _this_ team because we _are_ different. We don't fit in anywhere else. Maybe that's what scares me. The world thinks us heroes, but the second it doesn't need us anymore…where does that leave us?"

"I don't think a time will ever come when the world _doesn't_ need the Avengers," Ava told her. "Tony getting robbed proves that. The world saw that there are bigger threats out there than terrorists and hate groups when aliens attacked New York. Even if Earth doesn't need the Avengers to protect it from its own threats, those aren't the only threats out there."

"That's part of what scares me so much," Aspen confessed. "I know it scares Tony too. He's the only one of us besides Thor who's actually seen what else is out there when he took that missile into the portal. He doesn't talk about it, not really. Sure he reminds us every few months that he's the one who took a missile into another universe and saved New York, but he doesn't talk about the haunted look in his eyes. We barely managed to survive the Battle of New York and that was just a demi-god and his army. There could be worse things out there, things that want to destroy Earth altogether instead of ruling it. I think Tony's so convinced that it's inevitable. The rest of us are content to handle Hydra's threats, but he's always got a part of his mind focused on the bigger problem, and I wonder if he's right. When my mind was connected to Modok's back when we were dealing with Julian and the Elite, I saw things… _Everything_ might be a more accurate word for it. The future, the past, alternate realities. But I saw one thing in the future that scared me. I don't know what's worse, that I saw it or that I didn't see how it ended." She took a shuddering breath. "I'm not sure exactly what was happening but we were fighting some great force as a team, and I think this time we were in over our heads. I couldn't see my team, but I felt this weight on me like I'd lost everything. I guess it's just got me thinking – what if we are outmatched one day? Does the fate of the world rest on our shoulders? What if we fail? It's an infinitely heavy responsibility."

"I don't think anyone's expecting you to carry that burden on your own. The world has its Armies and soldiers and, if a threat comes along some day that _is_ too much for the Avengers, then you have the people of this world. It's their world too and sometimes soldiers come from regular people desperate to protect their home."

"Well this is heavy talk," Aspen said with a nervous laugh. "I'm an expert on turning conversations dark and serious. I could bring tears to a convention of clowns any given day." Ava chuckled. "Maybe we could take a walk around the park and do some shopping?" Aspen wasn't much of a shopper, but right now something mindless sounded like a good distraction.

Ava smiled. "I'd love that."

It felt good getting out of the Tower, away from serious talk. For an hour she was simply a girl shopping with her mom. She'd never realized how something so simple could be so wonderful. She loved her life but putting on this mask of normalcy was something she needed every once in awhile. She could tell Ava was enjoying herself too. She smiled and laughed and kept glancing at Aspen with pride in her eyes. Aspen had grown used to getting by without the approval of a parent, but now she found that little glimmer of pride made her feel invincible.

…

When they returned to the Tower over an hour later, Aspen said, "Let's order that pizza. I'd better find Nat and Bruce first so they can tell me what they want."

"I'll go freshen up," Ava said, standing and squeezing Aspen's hand. "I like anything on my pizza except anchovies," she added.

"I always order a side of those for Phoenix," Aspen said with a smile. "She's the only one who likes them. Well, Thor seems to like them, but as he's away, we'll forgo the anchovies on the pizza. Those Asgardians eat strange food. And lots of it."

"Jarvis, where are Bruce and Natasha?" Aspen asked after her mom had gone to the guest room to freshen up. Asking the AI was much easier than doing a floor-by-floor search for them.

" _Doctor Banner is in the lab and Ms. Romanoff is training upstairs. Shall I inform them that you're inquiring after them?_ "

"That's okay, Jarvis, I could use the exercise." She headed upstairs to the lab where she found Bruce working under a lamp, scribbling down notes and then checking it against the computer.

"You're so quiet, I didn't even realize you were in here," Aspen said. Bruce jumped at the sound of her voice, and his pencil went flying across the room. Aspen bent to pick up the pencil as it rolled toward her feet. She handed it back to Bruce.

"Sorry, I didn't even realize there was anyone else in the Tower," he said. "I guess I've been a little too wrapped up in this."

"What are you working on?" Aspen inquired as he cleared the computer's screen.

"Just something Tony and I have been brainstorming." He didn't elaborate which was unusual, but Aspen wasn't in the mood to talk about science so she changed the subject.

"I was going to order some pizza. My mom's here, and Steve had to take off to help Tony figure out who broke into one of his facilities so it's just the four of us."

"Tony had someone break into one of his facilities?" Bruce asked, frowning. "Did anything get stolen?"

"I'm not sure yet. Steve went to help him. I'm sure they'll let us know when they find something out. So, pizza?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm good with anything. Except anchovies."

"Oh I already ordered," Aspen told him. "Extra anchovies on everything. Sorry."

Bruce blinked at her for a moment before saying, "You're joking."

"I should hope so."

Bruce smiled slowly which Aspen took as a small victory. He was always so serious. "I'll be down in a minute. I'm just going to finish up here."

"You should turn on more lights. You're going to ruin your eyes," Aspen suggested as she turned to find Nat.

"Right. I guess I didn't notice the sun had started going down." He glanced at the window.

"Yeah, it's a sneaky one that sun. I'm going to go invite Nat to pizza." Was it just her or did Bruce's face light up a little at the mention of the redheaded spy. "I'll just get cleaned up." He looked down at his rumpled shirt.

Aspen left Bruce in the lab and headed toward the training room. Besides their own personal floors, everything Aspen needed was basically attached to the lounge. Tony and Bruce's lab was up a level with glass windows that overlooked the lounge. The small medical bay was accessible from the lab and Tony's extra suits or, more recently, his Iron Legion, occupied the space under the glass floor of the lab. The training room was up one floor and took up the entirety of the floor.

Aspen took the stairs up to the training room, hand lightly brushing the rail. She was halfway up when Jarvis's voice crackled overhead. "...security protocols...overridden ...entered...building..." As his voice cut out, the lights went black, plunging Aspen into darkness. Her hand tightened on the railing. The next moment a dim red light flickered on overhead giving Aspen the tiniest bit of vision back.

"Jarvis?" she asked, questioning the silence. Jarvis didn't answer. What had he said? Something about security codes being overridden and someone entering the building? How was that possible? Aspen's thoughts flashed back to the break in at Tony's facility – the one he and Steve were now investigating. This had to be related, but the only person Aspen knew who could enter the Tower, bypassing security was one of the inhumans, Lily, and she had no reason to do so and no way of disabling security. Something moved above Aspen, and she looked up the stairs, eyes keen for any motion. She felt out with her powers and could sense a person moving silently down the stairs above her. Aspen gathered a surge of power, ready to unleash it on whomever came down the stairs.

"Aspen?"

Aspen let out a sigh as she heard Natasha's voice. "Tasha." She let the power slip away and hurried up to meet Natasha. "Do you know what happened?" she asked her.

"Something disabled security. They bypassed Jarvis and turned off the power. I have no idea who has the ability to do that. Tony's security is top of the line."

"I think whoever broke into his other facility is behind this too - that's where Tony and Steve are now. Tony wasn't sure if anything had been stolen or not, but what if they stole something there that could help someone break into the Tower? Like a Trojan Horse of sorts. What better than to bypass Tony's security than something he invented?"

"You think they're after something here then? What does Stark keep locked up in here?" Natasha frowned.

"Locked up? Wait! What about Julian? When the power went down, security in the holding cells would have gone down too. I have to find my mom. She could be in danger. Julian's unstable, and we don't know who else could be in here."

"Can you sense anyone else?" Natasha asked, much calmer than Aspen. Aspen hadn't even thought to do that.

She took a deep breath and extended her powers. All of Tony's employees were gone for the day, so there were just a few warm bodies within the Tower. She sensed Natasha and Bruce and her mother and then the fiery presence of Julian somewhere far below them. She couldn't sense anyone else. She shook her head at Natasha. "Nothing. Just us."

"Okay, let's find your mom and Bruce. Then we need to try to get power back up."

"How do we do that?" Aspen asked, following after Natasha as she took the stairs down to the lounge.

"I was hoping you could do something," Natasha said, looking over her shoulder at Aspen. "With your abilities. Give the system a jumpstart or something."

"I don't know how but I'll try." The weight of the anti-serum in her pocket seemed to grow.

The sky outside was dark but New York served as its own nightlight, keeping the lounge light enough to see. "Bruce?" Natasha called out softly. They heard something rattle and then drop to the floor in the lab upstairs. Bruce appeared in the doorway rubbing his shoulder.

"What's with the blackout?" he asked.

"We decided to save on power while Tony's out," Natasha said wryly. "I don't suppose you know how to turn it back on?"

"There should be a backup system somewhere. It's probably in the sublevel."

"That's an awfully long ways down," Aspen said. "With the elevators down and all."

"I don't understand why the power went off in the first place," Bruce said, adjusting his glasses. "And where's Jarvis? I heard him say something and then he cut out."

"Someone overrode the security," Natasha told him. "Aspen thinks it's the same people who broke into Tony's other facility."

"Seems like too much of a coincidence not to be the same people," Bruce agreed.

"Have you seen my mom?" Aspen asked, looking around. "She was going to get settled in the guest room while I ordered the pizza."

"She didn't come back down. Did you check her room?" Bruce asked.

"Not yet-" Aspen paused. "Do you hear something?" She retreated toward the elevator. Distant banging could be heard and what sounded like a cry for help. "Oh no, I think she's stuck in the elevator," Aspen said, turning to the others. "Do you hear that?"

Natasha pressed her ear to the elevator doors. "I hear something."

"We need to get her out of there. Help me open these doors." They tried to pry the doors open and, between the three of them, managed to pry them open part way. Aspen felt a cool burst of air and realized she was looking straight down the shaft. "Anyone have a flashlight?" she asked.

"I'll get one." Bruce left them for a moment and returned with a slender, silver flashlight. Aspen shone it down. "I can see it. It's stuck a few floors down. Let's see if we can figure out what floor it's stuck on or between."

They took the stairs, following Ava's cries for help until they found the floor where she seemed to be stuck. They pried the elevator doors open but all they could see of the elevator was the bottom. A tiny crevice allowed Ava's voice to carry down to them. "Aspen? I'm stuck in here. Everything just went black."

"I know. There's been some sort of black out. I'm going to get you out of there." She froze, her senses picking up on something she hadn't sensed before. She motioned for Bruce and Natasha to get closer to her. "I can sense four people in this Tower who shouldn't be here," she said. "Two are on the main floor and two are on the Avenjet pad."

"Here." Natasha pressed something into Aspen's hand. "This will get you down the shaft and you and your mom back up. I'm going after the ones on the pad and then the ones downstairs.

"What do you want me to do?" Bruce asked a little helplessly. Hulking out now didn't seem like a good decision, but Aspen could see his frustration.

"Get the power back on," Natasha instructed him.

"Watch out for Julian though. He might be on the loose," Aspen warned. "I'll be down as soon as I can to help."

"Shouldn't we be calling Tony?" Bruce asked.

"I already tried. There's no service in the tower right now. Whoever this is made sure everything got shut down," Natasha told him, pulling out two guns. "Take care of yourselves." She moved off toward the stairs, leaving Bruce and Aspen.

"I guess I'm going down," Bruce said.

"Looks like it. I'll try to get there as soon as I can," Aspen promised.

"Any advice if I happen to run into Julian down there?" Bruce asked.

"Try not to?" Aspen suggested with a shrug. "Don't turn green unless you have to. You might feel him - he's got a very warm presence that tends to flair up and it's turning chilly in here."

"Okay, fair enough. Be careful."

They parted ways, Aspen leaning up to speak to her mom in the elevator. "I'm going to climb down the shaft and get you out," she promised. "Just don't worry. I'll be right there." She hurried up the stairs to the next story, but she couldn't get the elevator doors open by herself. She nearly used her powers to force them open, but she didn't want to risk the elevator itself, so she retraced her steps to the lounge. She paused in the doorway, looking for any signs of a fight, but Natasha was nowhere to be seen and the Avenjet pad was empty and silent. Aspen leaned over the dark shaft, securing the cord to the wall before clipping it onto her belt. She took a deep breath before climbing down into the shaft, using her feet to kick off the wall while holding onto the cord. She dropped down so that she could no longer see the lights of the city. She tried to push back the compressed feeling that tightened around her. Cool air sent goose bumps up her arms and legs as she slipped down a few more feet. She was beginning to wish she'd just forced the doors open the floor above where the elevator rested, but she was already halfway down. She had slid down even further when something sounded up above. To her horror, the elevator doors slid shut leaving her in total darkness. The flashlight was still sitting on the floor up above, and she'd left her cell phone in the lounge. She hung there for a minute until her mind kicked into action. She could do anything with her abilities. Why couldn't she believe that when it really counted? Aspen shut her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them, she could see everything. Her eyes adjusted so that she could see in the dark just as well as if she'd been wearing night vision goggles. Aspen slid down the rest of the way, feet landing with a hollow thud on top of the elevator.

"Aspen?" She heard her mom's muffled voice from within and reached down to open the emergency hatch on the top of the box.

"Mom, are you all right?" she asked, leaning down to see into the elevator. Her mom squinted up at her, but couldn't see her in the pitch dark.

"Yeah, I'm not hurt. How are we going to get out of here?"

"Well, we were going to climb up, but someone seems to have cut off that route. I'm going to try to open the doors above us, but I want us both out of the elevator when I do that. I'm afraid I'll cause it to fall or something. I'm going to reach down my hand and pull you up. See if you can hoist yourself up using the railing on the wall." Aspen lay flat on her stomach, ignoring the uncomfortable metal that bit into her. She reached a hand down.

"Okay," Ava told her, "I'm going to use the rail and grab your hand. Can you pull me up?"

"I'm stronger than I look," Aspen assured her. She heard her mom shuffling around and then felt her hand grasp Aspen's. Aspen pulled, grabbing onto her mom's other hand and pulling her up. Ava grasped the rim of the trapdoor and pulled herself up next to Aspen.

"It's pitch dark in here," she said.

"I can see." Aspen released the cord from where it was attached high above and it came back down, rolling itself into a neat circle. Aspen shot it toward a spot just next to the elevator doors a floor above them. "Can you grab onto this cord?" she asked, clipping it onto her mom's belt. Her mom felt blindly around for it before grabbing it. "There is a little button on the device I put on your belt that will slowly pull you up."

"What about you?"

"I can climb the elevator cables," Aspen said, reaching out a hand for one of the stiff cables the elevator ran on. She didn't know how easy they were to climb, but she trusted herself to manage it. "Ready?"

"I think so." She heard a slight 'zip' as her mom used the cord to pull herself upward. Aspen began to climb. It took her twice the time, but finally she was parallel to the doors.

"Okay, I'm going to try to pull the doors open." She nearly added 'with my mind' but decided that sounded too pretentious. She concentrated instead, using a firm but gentle force. The doors began to move.

"You're doing it," Ava pointed out, excitement ringing in her voice. Aspen realized she had only been witness to her daughter's powers after Aspen had first been injected with the serum. Aspen pulled them open further.

"Can you climb out now?" she asked.

"Yes." Ava pulled herself out, unclipping the grappling device from her belt. "Do you need this?" she asked.

"I don't think I can reach without it. Just toss your end straight into the shaft and I'll catch it." Her mom threw it, and Aspen snagged the end. "Okay, I'm going to-" The sound of the elevator coming to life cut her off. Aspen stared down in horror as the lights in the elevator flickered on.

"Aspen? Is that the elevator?" her mom asked.

Aspen didn't answer. She fumbled with clip, trying to get it attached to her belt. Suddenly the elevator began to move upward. "Oh shit."

"Aspen, you need to get out!" her mom told her. "Take my hand!"

"Get back!" Aspen shouted. She didn't have time to climb out. "I'm jumping in," she screamed before letting go of the cable. For a moment she fell straight down the shaft as the elevator roared up to meet her. She shut her eyes as her feet went through the emergency door. She fell in a heap in the bottom of the elevator, bending her knees to save her ankles the brunt of the fall. The cord she was holding was wretched from her hands, and she was trapped in the elevator as it picked up speed. It wasn't showing any signs of stopping. Aspen would have to stop it herself. She tried the emergency stop button, but nothing happened. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, feeling out the elevator and clamping down - imagining it stopping, screeching to a halt. Nothing happened for a second. Then the elevator began to slow. The cables screeched overhead with the sudden decrease in speed. Finally the elevator shuddered to a halt. Aspen lay on the floor breathing hard. The doors dinged and opened. She was in the training room. She rolled out of the elevator before it could come to life again.

The training equipment were ghosts in the dark room, silhouetted in the moonlight. Aspen's nerves were still vibrating and she reached out to see if she could sense anyone. Her mom was several floors below. She was shaking too badly to reach out any further. She got to her feet, wincing as her legs protested. She was lucky she hadn't broken them both in the fall. She staggered against the wall before finally gaining her balance. The stairs were agony, but she kept moving until she reached the floor where she'd left her mom. She found her hunched over the elevator shaft.

"Mom, I'm okay," she called out. Ava was on her feet in an instant and hugging Aspen tightly.

"I thought I'd lost you," she said, hot tears leaking down her cheeks.

"I'm tougher than that," Aspen assured her. "This job might kill me some day, but I'm not going down as the girl who got flattened by an elevator."

Ava laughed nervously. "Why isn't the rest of the power on?"

"I don't know. Maybe Bruce reset the elevators trying to help but more likely someone was trying to kill me." Ava paled, and Aspen realized that wasn't the most comforting conclusion. "Come on, we need to go see if we can find Bruce. He was going to find a way to get all the power to come back on."

"Do you know who broke in?" Ava asked as they moved toward the stairs again. Aspen was getting very tired of stairs, but it would take a little while for her to trust elevators again after this.

"I sensed four people, but I couldn't get more than that," Aspen told her. "Natasha went after them." She tried to sense more heat signatures, but she was still too shaky and couldn't concentrate. "I don't know what's happening."

"Well I can't think of more capable hands to be in," Ava told her. "You're powerful."

"I'm so shaken up I can't even sense for intruders," Aspen said, frustrated at her inefficiency.

"I can't stop shaking either," Ava said, taking Aspen's hand. Aspen tried to take comfort from her mom's presence but she really wished Steve was there. Tony would certainly be helpful too. The stairs took forever, but by the time they'd reached the lowest level of the Tower, Aspen's shaking had subsided. The Tower had grown frigid without the heating system, but her adrenaline was still pulsing enough to keep her warm. She reached out her powers before pushing open the doors at the base of the stairs. A pulsing heat scalded her mind in response, and she took a step back.

"What is it?" Ava asked.

Aspen's eyes were set on the door as she answered. "Julian."


	18. Burn

**Author's Note:** Intense chapter! So I've actually nearly finished part two already despite going from working 12 hours a week to over 40. I don't exactly know where I want to end it. They're literally flying to Sokovia right now to begin Age of Ultron, but I'll definitely be splitting AoU into two parts. I'll figure that out later. Anyway, I will definitely be able to keep posting weekly. I finished my two weeks of training at the library and now I get to shadow my coworkers. I'm a bit nervous about opening and closing, but it should be okay after I do it a few times. I have to tell patrons they have 15 minutes to high-tail it out of there (only more politely than that) and check all the rooms and bathrooms to make sure no one is hiding. That's kind of freaky because I will be doing it alone once I'm trained... As long as I have time to write, watch Daredevil season 2, and Avengers Assemble, I'm pretty happy. :)

Thank you as always for reading! You guys are awesome.

* * *

 **16 – Burn – March 30, 2015**

The facility was in upstate New York, an hour and a half hour drive from Avengers Tower. Tony hadn't been specific over the phone, just told him something had been stolen from Stark Industries and he needed backup to help figure out what was stolen and who stole it. Steve wasn't sure exactly _how_ he was going to help Tony, but he supposed Tony would want to keep the theft quiet. He glanced at the GPS and turned off the freeway, bypassing the city altogether and heading out into the suburbs until the cars grew few and far in between. The turn off was hard to find, but according to the GPS the facility was just ten minutes up the road. He squinted into the distance and saw a brick building looming in the distance. He expected to see a busy Stark facility, but instead all he saw was an empty parking lot with cracking concrete and a building that looked as if it hadn't seen use in years. He parked in front of the entrance, getting out slowly, taking in the facility and wondering where exactly Tony was. He got his answer a moment later when Tony came flying from above the facility, landing hard in front of Steve and stepping out of his armor.

"You made good time," he said. "Did you have trouble finding the place?"

"Not really." Steve frowned. "You said it was urgent."

"Were you in the middle of something?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Steve said slowly. "Aspen's mom was visiting, remember? We were going to go out to dinner, but you said you needed my help, so here I am. Do you know what was stolen? What is this place?" It looked abandoned.

"It's my dad's old warehouse," Tony told him. "There are a lot of his inventions stored here. Top security. The alarms were triggered, but I'm not entirely sure _what_ is stored here, so finding out what's missing is proving difficult. I'm trying to figure out how they got in."

"So how exactly can I help?" Steve asked. He didn't have the faintest idea how Tony's security system worked let alone how someone could have bypassed it.

"I was hoping those Super Soldier senses of yours could pick up on something I missed. Jarvis is running a scan of the items in the building. He should be finished in a few minutes. I'm going to see if I can figure out just how they got in. They tripped the motion sensors, but they still managed to grab what they needed and get out."

"Are you positive they stole something?" More likely it had just been kids trying to break in on a dare.

"They did. They wouldn't have gone to all this effort just to leave empty handed," Tony said, shrugging off Steve's doubt.

"Okay," Steve said to pacify him. "I'll take a look around." He started on the outside, circling the solid brick building. It was pretty large, and Steve wondered just how many inventions Howard had stored here. He felt a twinge of nostalgia thinking about his old friend. Howard had equipped Steve with a lot of important gear during the war including his shield. He'd never forget the day he'd picked up the vibranium shield. It had felt so natural in his grip especially after having used the thin metal shield stolen from his war bonds act. It was handy, both for offense and defense. Though Steve had turned down several of Tony's suggested improvements of his uniform and shield, he had accepted the wristband that magnetized his shield back into place. It was funny how alike Tony and his father were and yet how different. With Howard, Steve had always had a mutual respect. Howard had been directly behind the Vita-Ray technology that had turned Steve into a Super Soldier and had been a huge help during the war. Tony was from a different time altogether. He didn't respect Steve the way Howard had. Whereas the war had brought him and Howard together despite their differences, even the Battle of New York hadn't been enough for him and Tony to bridge connections. There was always a massive rift between them where their disagreements and different viewpoints festered. Steve had just come to understand that he and Tony would never have the easy relationship he had with Sam or Aspen.

The sun was already starting to set in the distance, and Steve hurried to finish his search of the building's perimeter. He did not want to be stuck here all night playing detective with Tony. He stopped short at the back of the building. There was a vent here, set low in the wall. It was rusted and weeds fought for position amongst themselves, plastered against the cement wall of the facility. He _almost_ missed the vent altogether. What caught his attention was the fact that it was hanging crooked. He knelt down and noted that two of the screws had been removed. The weeds and overgrown grass below it were flattened as if someone had knelt there, and his keen eyes picked up on two rusted nails buried between the blades of crushed grass.

"Well, I think I found _how_ they got in," he told Tony a minute later, finding him typing frantically on his tablet. He explained the vent and how screws had been removed.

"That explains how they got out too. Once they tripped the motion sensors the building would have gone into lockdown, but not the vents."

"Who would fit through that vent?" He took Tony around the back of the building. Tony crouched down, pulling the vent aside and peering into the dark space.

"Someone small," he said, glancing up at Steve. "Your shoulders wouldn't come close to fitting in there."

"So either a woman or a slight man. Or a teenager," Steve suggested. "What if it was just some kid on a dare?"

"No kid. Jarvis figured out what was stolen. It was a specific device, something used to disable security systems. Someone knew what they were looking for."

"So they break into your dad's facility to steal something that helps disable security? Why? Who would know it was even there?" Steve was thinking of all the places someone might break into with such a device. "Why did your dad even invent something like that?" he added. Just because you had an idea didn't mean you should invent something like that.

"It was supposed to be used in the interest in intelligence gathering, but he decided it was too much of a liability. As for who knew it was here…someone who used to work for my dad or someone who followed his work." Tony sounded nonchalant but Steve could see a hint of worry behind his brown eyes. Tony might like to act like he didn't care, but every once in awhile a little worry slipped through. "They would have had somewhere specific in mind to break into… Somewhere with high security, somewhere impossible to break into without this specific device." He fell silent for a minute, and Steve could almost hear his brain whirling. "Son of a bitch." Tony's eyes shot to Steve's. "They needed the device, but they also knew it would draw me out here. They're going to use it on the Tower."

"Why?" Tony seemed sure but Steve thought it was a stretch. There were any number of highly guarded buildings with secrets and weapons and research out there. What did the Tower have that they wanted so badly?

"My research. There's a project I've been working on with Bruce, well a couple of projects, but this one is something someone like Strucker would pay good money to get his hands on. It's a sort of amplifier that, if used on something like Loki's scepter, would be able to siphon off power. It's something we started working on after New York. Loki's scepter was with SHIELD. I'd realized its potential as an energy source before like the Tesseract. Without the actual scepter, my work wasn't perfectly accurate, but if Strucker has the scepter…"

"But how would he know about your research?"

"A lot of Hydra thugs used to work for SHIELD. He could have had access to all kinds of information. I put in several requests to study the scepter, but they turned me down. It was probably in Hydra's hands all along. But it's just a guess. There are plenty of things in the Tower Hydra wouldn't mind getting their hands on. Which is why we need to get in touch with anyone still there. Who is there anyway?"

"Natasha, Bruce, and Aspen," Steve said. "We need to warn them." He pulled out his phone and dialed Aspen. The phone rang for a long time, but she didn't answer. "Something's wrong," he said, looking up at Tony. "What if they're already at the Tower?"

"Relax. Those three are more than a match for Hydra," Tony assured him, but he looked tense. Steve wondered what he was most worried about, his research or his teammates. "Let me see if Jarvis can connect with anyone in the Tower." He started toward the front of the building where his Iron Man suit was standing guard. Steve followed, itching to get going but at the same time realizing an hour and a half hour drive wasn't going to get him to New York fast enough to do much of anything. Maybe Tony had been right when he'd tried to encourage Steve to learn how to fly the Avenjet.

Tony's suit opened up and he stepped into it. "Jarvis, try to connect me to the Tower," he said.

" _I'm sorry, sir, all connections have failed,_ " came the reply.

"What does that mean?" Steve asked.

"It means someone used my dad's device on the Tower," Tony told him. "It wipes out communications and power and security. Everything. But only for about twenty minutes. They'd need to reset the power and security, but it would work again. Hydra could be in and out in twenty minutes though."

"How fast could you make it back there?" Steve asked, eyeing Tony's suit. Tony had destroyed all his suits three years before in order to devote more time to Pepper but when the Avengers had joined together again, he'd designed Mark XLIII. Steve wasn't fully aware of the extent of its capabilities, but Tony's designs were always impressive.

"I could make it there in twenty minutes with this suit."

" _Sir, I'm picking up on an incoming aircraft,_ " Jarvis's voice said, interrupting further discussion. " _I believe it to be hostile_."

"Let's find out." Tony was in the air before Steve could open his mouth to speak. He ran to the car, pulling his shield out of the trunk and sliding it over his left arm. The familiar weight helped him focus, and he pushed his worries to the side for now, looking to the sky to catch a glimpse of the oncoming threat. He could see Tony up above him, a speck in the sky, then a sleek aircraft appeared out of the clouds and began to fire at Tony. Steve grabbed his helmet from the car and strapped it on quickly.

"Tony?" he spoke into the comm as he watched Tony dodge and weave high above him.

" _I take it this is part two of our distraction,_ " Tony replied. " _I need to keep their fire away from the building. Several of Dad's inventions are…volatile._ "

"Not comforting. What can I do?" Steve asked, feeling useless standing on the ground.

" _Unless you can fly, nothing_ ," Tony told him. " _You_ could _let me build you that jetpack._ "

"No thanks. I like my feet firmly on the ground," Steve said. "I'll leave the flying to you and Thor." As he spoke, something sharp clipped his arm just below his right shoulder. A burning sensation followed. Steve whirled around, shield outward. A bullet whizzed past his face, and he ducked down behind the car. He looked down at his arm and saw a bullet wound. It was just a graze, but it was bleeding, already soaking through the torn fabric of his uniform. "We've got hostiles on the ground," he told Tony. "I've got them."

" _Don't let them shoot Aspen's new car. She won't be happy if you drive it home with bullet holes through the windows. Well, it's bulletproof, but enough bullets will crack the glass."_

"If that happens you can just buy her a new car," Steve told him, looking through the windows to try to find the shooter or shooters.

" _She wouldn't be too happy if I brought_ you _home with bullet holes either, so be careful,_ " Tony added, and Steve smiled a little.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that's a hint of worry," Steve said.

" _Well, I'm pretty sure everything would fall to rancor without you. Total chaos and all._ "

Steve saw movement in the trees a few yards away. There were two men there with sniper guns aimed and ready. He frowned. They could have easily fatally shot him before, but they'd grazed his arm. A warning. A distraction. They were stalling. "I don't think they mean to kill us," he said.

" _Tell that to these guys trying to play 'pin the bullets in the Iron Man'."_

"I'm going in." Steve put a hand on the top of the car and leapt over it in one swift motion while keeping his shield out before him. He started running toward the trees, dodging as bullets sped toward him, clanking as they hit his shield. He wasn't confident enough with his theory that they wouldn't kill him to test it so he sent his shield flying only when he was close enough to defend himself with his bare hands. The shield hit a tree, rebounding hard straight at one of the shooter's heads. The man slumped to the ground. Steve caught the shield, searching for the other shooter. He saw a figure bolting in the opposite direction. Before running after him in pursuit, Steve relieved the first shooter of his weapon, bringing his shield down on it to render it useless.

" _They're retreating,_ " Tony said as Steve started in pursuit of the second shooter. " _Whatever they were distracting us from, it's done_."

"I'm in pursuit," Steve said. "We can interrogate these guys if we can get them to talk."

" _Don't bother_ ," Tony's voice replied. " _What's done is done. I'm heading back to the Tower to see what the damage is. If you want to play good cop/bad cop with that guy, you're gonna have to do it on your own."_

Steve hesitated, frustrated that it would take so long to drive back home. He eyed the fleeing figure. It would be good to get answers, but Hydra thugs weren't exactly known for being chatty. He really just wanted to go back to the Tower to make sure Aspen and Ava were safe. Making up his mind, Steve turned back toward Howard Stark's facility. He stopped by the unconscious man and, after a second, grabbed him by the collar and started pulling him toward the car. He could do both, he decided. He unlocked the trunk and pushed the man in, tying his arms and legs before shutting him in. His shield just fit in the backseat and he pulled his helmet off before starting the engine and pulling away from the facility. Tony was already gone, and Steve could only assume he'd upped his security measures before leaving the facility. His shoulder twinged, but the bleeding had stopped. He should probably clean it off, but instead he pushed aside the pain and drove the car faster, only slowing when he reached the main road. He was thirty minutes into his drive back to the Tower when he heard muffled shouts from the trunk. He hadn't thought to check the man's mouth for cyanide capsules, but he hoped this particular thug wasn't suicidal. From the sound of the shouts, he didn't think so, especially when they continued with increased ire. Steve tried calling Aspen again, but she didn't answer. He tried calling Tony on the comms next but there was just static. He tried to tamp down his worry, but he didn't like the sensation of being left in the dark having no idea what was happening in the Tower. He tightened his grip on the wheel and pushed the speed limit.

…

"He's loose?" Ava asked as she and Aspen stood before the door to the Tower's basement. All the emergency controls were beyond that door but so was Julian. Aspen only hoped Bruce had avoided the unstable inhuman.

"Yeah, his cell would have gone down with the blackout." The cells were on the floor above them, so she wasn't sure why Julian had gone down rather than up. She could feel his heat working its way under the door now.

"Is he still dangerous?" Ava asked. "I thought Amber was working with him."

"She is," Aspen said. "We even brought in a therapist, but he's just receded into himself. I'm pretty sure he hates me still. We have to get through those doors though."

"Can you tell what he's doing?"

"Just standing there, I think," Aspen said. She could sense no movement behind the door. It was like he was expecting her. "I'm going to go in. I can handle him, but I need you to stay out here, okay?"

Her mom looked like she might protest, but then she nodded. Aspen handed her her cellphone. "You can use this for light," she said.

"What about you?" Ava asked.

"I won't need it," Aspen said. She could feel the heat rising off of the door now and so she reached out with her mind to open it rather than touching it. Her eyes adjusted instantly to the darkness, and she could see the room clearly. The room was filled with Stark equipment that kept the Tower running. A control panel sat against one wall. She saw no sign of Bruce. She reached out and sensed his heat signature, but it was faint. Not in this room. She frowned at this. Bruce could more than defend himself, but the last thing they needed was the Hulk on the loose right now. She also didn't want him to be forced to take that form. She knew the toll it took on him.

Julian's heat was stifling in the room and, as she took a step forward, she felt the heat caress her cheeks as if welcoming her. The door shut behind her, trapping her with Julian. "Hello, Julian," Aspen said, not bothering with stealth. Somehow he already knew she was here. He'd been expecting her.

He stepped out from behind one of the pieces of equipment, nearly glowing with the heat of his ability. A single misplaced spark could destroy this room. She had the feeling he was very much aware of this. He didn't speak when he looked at her. He looked eerily similar to when she'd first met him. His clothes were neat and his glasses polished. His hair was a little too long but was tucked behind his ears. The empty void in his eyes was gone, replaced by something predatory.

"What did you do to Bruce?" Aspen asked. Her eyes stayed fixed on Julian, but she reached out her senses toward the control panel. She had no idea what she was doing, but instead of letting her doubts limit her, she pressed harder. A little light started flashing on the screen and the backup system came to life. Julian didn't notice. His attention was focused solely on Aspen.

"He's keeping my cell warm for me," he replied. "Security's a little lax, but a little heat and the door could withstand even the Hulk." When Aspen's eyes widened, he added, "Don't worry, he was still human when I left him. He was trying really hard not to turn. I'm not sure why. If I had an ability like that I'd use it not hide it away to collect dust."

"We can't all just do whatever we like," Aspen told him. A password protected the emergency power, and Aspen willed it to override. Her brain felt like it might swell from the concentration she was pouring into the machine but a tiny beep told her she'd somehow succeeded. Add talking to computers to her growing list of abilities. The anti-serum felt heavy in her pocket, somehow still intact after her episode in the elevator. She reached out toward the button that would restart the power.

A sudden bite of heat stopped her short, however, and she jumped back away from Julian. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing," he snarled at her. "You think you can fix all this," he motioned to the Tower, "and lock me up again?"

"You're proving right now that you're still a danger, Julian. Not just to other people – to yourself too," Aspen told him, keeping her tone even. "Right now there's a bigger threat in the Tower, and I need to get security back up to stop it."

"You always did underestimate me," Julian said, taking a step toward her. Then, without warning, he sent a ball of fire straight at the screen on the wall.

"No!" Aspen hurled her powers after the fireball, and it stopped short just before hitting the screen, crashing into an invisible wall and disappearing. "You made the very same mistake," she told Julian. " _Never_ underestimate me." With an almighty thrust, she sent Julian across the room. She slammed the emergency reset button down with her mind and lights blinked on around her. The machinery around her whirred to life.

Julian got to his feet across the room looking mutinous. Aspen used a force field to protect herself this time as he sent a stream of fire at her. He kept coming at her, shooting flame after flame until her fingertips could feel the burn even through her protection. "I've grown stronger too," Julian said, gritting his teeth as his hands met with her force field. Only a thin layer of energy separated their hands. Julian's burned with an orange light while Aspen's wavered with a silver glow. The sound of the door opening momentarily distracted her. She turned to see her mother entering the room. At the same moment Julian shot a blast of fire straight at Ava. Aspen screamed and time seemed to slow as she dropped her own shield and sent it toward her mom. The fire got there first. Aspen watched in horror as the fireball hit her mom straight in the abdomen. Aspen's own energy dissolved the fire before it could do further damage, but her mom fell to the floor. Julian was running past Aspen, but all Aspen could see was her mom lying on the floor. She didn't know if she was breathing. _Oh god, let her be breathing_. She fell to her knees next to her mom. Her shirt was burned where the fire had hit her and her skin below her ribcage was a mess of blood and burnt skin. Aspen felt herself begin to panic. She forced herself to check her mother's pulse, hands shaking so badly it took her far too long to find a heartbeat. It was there though.

" _Miss Tolvar?_ " Jarvis's voice rang out above her, startling her badly.

"Jarvis, call 911. I need an ambulance."

" _Calling now. What should I tell them?_ " Jarvis asked.

"Burn injury, female adult. Julian hurt my mom, Jarvis," Aspen said, her voice catching. "Are the intruders still in the Tower?" She forced her mind to do its job, to look past her own heartache.

" _No. Miss Romanoff was able to dispatch two of them, but the other two got away._ "

"And Julian?" She tried to force back her anger.

" _Unaccounted for. I'm afraid he's left the Tower. I've sent Miss Romanoff down to help you._ "

"Thank you, Jarvis," Aspen whispered. She realized she was crying, clutching her mom's hand like a lifeline. "Please be okay," she told her mom. "I can't lose you."

"Aspen?" Natasha's voice startled her. She saw Ava and immediately came over, checking her pulse and then pulling one of her arms around her shoulders. "Come on. We need to get her upstairs. Jarvis said he called an ambulance."

Aspen nodded, pulling her mom's other arm around her shoulder. Together they carefully dragged her to the now functioning elevator. By the time they reached the front doors to the Tower, the ambulance was there.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Natasha asked as the paramedics loaded Ava onto the gurney. The flashing lights hurt Aspen's eyes after being in the dark for so long.

"Bruce is in Julian's cell. He needs your help." She reached out and squeezed Natasha's hand. "Thank you."

"She's going to be all right," Natasha told Aspen. "She's a fighter just like you."

Aspen hurried to get into the back of the ambulance, and the paramedics allowed her to hold her mom's hand while they cleaned and dressed her wound. "She's sustained some damage, but the burns don't go deep enough to have hit anything vital," one of the paramedics said. She looked at Aspen. "What happened?"

Aspen didn't feel like making up a story. They already knew their patient had come from Avengers Tower. "A boy with the ability to create fire hurt her," she said. "And I wasn't fast enough to stop him."

The woman blinked, but didn't question Aspen's story. "She's lucky you reacted so quickly," she said. "You called us just in time."

Aspen just nodded numbly. Her heart was aching, and she wished more than ever that Steve was with her. She fumbled for her phone but she'd left it with her mom who had probably dropped it when she'd been hit. Natasha would call Steve and tell him what had happened. Any thoughts of the intruders had fled Aspen's mind. She couldn't even find the energy to hate Julian. Part of her was glad he was gone. She wasn't sure she could face him after what he'd done. _Then_ she'd hate him. _Then_ she'd lose control.

Her mom was rushed into the emergency room, and Aspen was asked to wait outside. She sunk into a chair in the waiting room, numb. She had never felt so alone or so scared. Not even when her own life was at risk. After all she'd been through, after all her mom had been through; she couldn't lose her. She tried to still her shaking hands, but she couldn't stop trembling. How had this night gone so wrong? When had it turned into such a nightmare? She realized that if she'd taken the anti-serum, if she'd made up her mind that night, her mom would be dead. But even with her abilities, Aspen hadn't been fast enough. Even with her training she'd still fallen short. She clasped her hands in her lap and stared at the wall ahead as each second ticked by like an hour. She didn't know how much time had passed when the doctor finally came out to speak with her. She jolted from her seat. She felt like the oxygen had left her brain as she waited for the doctor to speak.

"Aspen?" the doctor inquired. She couldn't read his face. She nearly reached out to read his mind, but stopped short.

"Yes." Her voice came out hoarse as if she hadn't swallowed for days.

"Your mom is resting now. She's going to be okay." Aspen deflated. "She's going to have some burn marks when her skin heals, but the wound will heal. We're going to keep her a few days for observation. She has a little bit of a fever, but her body is fighting hard to heal already. You can come and see her if you like, but she'll be asleep for awhile."

"I'll stay," Aspen said in a hurried breath.

"Is there anyone else we can call?" the doctor asked. "Your father?"

Aspen shook her head. "My boyfriend," she said. "I left my phone at home."

"There's a phone in the room you can use," he said with a smile. "I'll walk you there." He led her through a door at the end of the hall that read 'intensive care' and to the room where her mom lay sleeping. Her red hair trickled out behind her and her face looked so peaceful. Aspen pulled a chair up next to the bed.

"Can I stay here tonight?" she asked the doctor. "I need to be here when she wakes up."

The doctor nodded. "There's a button next to her bed that you can press if she needs anything."

"Thank you."

"I'll leave you. Just let one of the nurses know if you need anything." He left her alone, and Aspen sat quietly for a long moment looking down at her mom as she breathed in deeply.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, taking her mom's hand and clutching it. "I'm so, so sorry. I couldn't be the hero you needed, and you got hurt." She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and then reached for the phone, dialing the familiar phone number.

Steve answered on the first ring. "Aspen, thank God, what happened? Natasha told me your mom got hurt. She said Julian got loose?"

"Yeah. The Tower was broken into and somehow everything got shut down. Power, security…everything. We went downstairs to switch the emergency power back on but Julian had escaped his cell. He was waiting for me there. He wanted to hurt me, but he hurt my mom instead." Her voice caught. "Where are you?" She needed him so badly it hurt.

"I'm twenty minutes out. I'm coming straight to the hospital."

"I don't even know what hospital I'm in," Aspen realized aloud.

"I'll look up the number and get the address," Steve assured her. "Are you okay?"

"He didn't hurt me."

"Yes, he did," Steve said, his voice harsh.

"He got away. I just froze. All I could think was that my mom might be dead and I wasn't fast enough to save her just like my dad." A sob caught in her throat.

"It's not your fault. None of that is your fault. Aspen, you did everything you could," Steve said forcefully. "I'm going to be there as soon as I can. I can stay on the phone if you like."

"That's okay. Concentrate on driving. I'll see you soon."

"If you're sure. I love you. Hang in there."

Aspen hung up the phone and turned back to her mom. "I don't know if you can hear me," she said, leaning close to her mom's ear. "But I want you to know how much I love you. We haven't had the easiest lives, but I know you always tried to do what was best for me and right now that's pulling through. I need you in my life. I need my mom. I didn't realize it all this time, but I need you so badly. I'm terrified of being alone, of being left behind. I just hope you know all of this. I want to say it all again when you wake up." She took her mom's hand and rested her head on the bed, closing her eyes and pretending she couldn't smell the sterile chemicals of the hospital nor feel the starchy sheets under her cheek. She tried to pretend the entire night hadn't happened that they were still talking about ordering pizza, laughing over topping choices and watching the sun set over Park Avenue. It didn't work.


	19. Two Steps Behind

**17 – Two Steps Behind – March 30, 2015**

Steve had all but forgotten about the man in his trunk when he reached the hospital. He'd also forgotten the bullet wound on his arm and the fact that he was wearing his uniform. He'd made it out of the car before looking down at himself. He didn't want to draw attention. The media could come swooping out of nowhere and give Aspen and her mom no peace. He hastily pulled the top part of his uniform over his head and placed it in the car, shoving the helmet onto the floor and tossing a blanket over the shield. At this time of night the parking lot was mostly empty and the man had stopped shouting. Possibly passed out. Steve wasn't too concerned at the moment. The night air was cold on his arms, the athletic T-shirt less warm than his suit. He locked the car and entered the hospital. The receptionist looked up, her eyes meeting his before going to his injured shoulder.

"Sir, do you need help?" she asked.

"I'll be okay. Can you tell me which room Ava Tolvar is in? She's my girlfriend's mom. I need to be there for both of them."

"Sure." The nurse looked up the room on her computer, her eyes sliding back to his arm a few times. "Room 4 in the ICU. But, sir, you really should have someone look at your arm."

"Later. Thank you." He hurried toward the elevator and was soon striding into the ICU. Room four was on the left and he knocked before entering. Aspen bolted to her feet, throwing her arms around him before he'd made it two steps into the room. Her body was shaking and he held her close, brushing a hand over her hair and pressing his head to hers.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pulling away a little to study her. He put a hand to her cheek, rubbing his thumb in circles on her temple. She looked unharmed, just frightened and tired. She nodded. "And your mom?" He glanced over to where Ava lay asleep on the bed.

"She's going to be okay. The doctor's said the fire didn't hit anything vital. She's running a fever, but they're watching her closely. They said it's just her body fighting off infection and trying to heal."

"She's tough," Steve told her. "She'll pull through."

"She is tough," Aspen said. "But after all she's been through she doesn't deserve this."

"What happened back there at the Tower?" Steve asked, ushering Aspen into a chair and pulling up one for himself.

"There was a blackout and-" She stopped talking, eyes picking up on his injured arm. "You're hurt!" she said, turning on the bedside lamp and pulling him closer to the light.

"I'm okay. It's only a flesh wound," he tried to assure her, but she was already studying the wound.

"I'm getting a nurse. If you don't get that cleaned off and bandaged it's going to get infected," she told him. "Don't argue," she snapped when he opened his mouth to speak.

"All right," he conceded knowing she wouldn't take no for an answer anyway. Aspen left the room and returned a few minutes later with a nurse and a doctor.

"He's just trying to put himself last as always," Aspen explained. "But he needs to get that looked at."

"Bullet wound?" the doctor asked, examining the wound.

"Uh, yeah," Steve replied, not quite knowing how to explain it. The doctors didn't ask any further questions though. The nurse bathed his wound and the doctor examined it.

"It's not too bad," he said. "Just a lot of blood that needed cleaning." Aspen gave Steve a critical look. "Should heal up nicely." The nurse bandaged his arm and they left with Steve's thanks.

"You need to take care of yourself too," Aspen said, coming over and curling herself into his lap. She leaned her head against his uninjured shoulder.

He put an arm around her waist and said, "You never finished your story. So there was a blackout at the Tower?"

"Yeah. Security was down, lights, Jarvis, everything." She explained how her mom had been stuck in the elevator and how she'd rescued her. She seemed to be skirting around details a little, but Steve didn't interrupt. "Bruce went down to reset the emergency power. Natasha was dealing with the intruders. My mom and I ran into Julian though." His cell had opened when security was down it turned out. He tried to stop me from restarting the power. My mom must have heard us fighting and came in. Julian sent a ball of fire at her. I don't think he meant to kill her. He was just trying to escape. But he's not better. He's dangerous and now he's on the loose. He could have killed her…" She clenched her fists and Steve kissed her forehead, trying to soothe her.

"But he didn't. Your mom is going to be all right. We'll try to find Julian. Maybe Amber and her team can help. I'm just glad you're okay."

"What did you and Tony find out?" Aspen asked.

"Well, turns out his facility was actually one of his father's old places. It was an old warehouse that was basically storing a whole bunch of his inventions that varied from safe to volatile. Someone had broken in through the vent and stolen a device that wiped out all power and security. Sound familiar?"

"So someone stole one of Howard's inventions and broke into the Tower using it? How's that for irony?"

"We ran into some Hydra agents while we were there. At least I assumed they were Hydra. They shot at Tony and me, but not to kill. I think they were just trying to distract us. The device worked for twenty minutes exactly, so they had limited time to pull it off. I guess when their twenty minutes were up, they pulled out. I did manage to knock out and capture one man. He's actually in the trunk of the car…"

Aspen sat up straighter. "You locked a man in the trunk of the car?" she asked sounding impressed and surprised.

"I didn't have time to interrogate him there," Steve said, shrugging a shoulder and then regretting it when he felt a twinge of pain. "I could call Natasha and have her take him in for me."

"Probably a good idea."

Steve reached for his phone and put in the call. Natasha didn't question why he had a man in his trunk. "I hate to drag you away from Aspen, but there is a bit of a situation here," she said. "Julian locked up Bruce in one of the cells. He welded it shut, and we can't seem to get it open. Tony doesn't want to upset him any more than he already is… He, uh, he turned green. I think I can talk him down, but Tony's busy trying to do damage control and somehow any attempts he's made to break the cell open have only incensed the Hulk."

"Why don't I just drive back to the Tower? Hang on." He pulled the phone away from his mouth for a moment. "Natasha needs some help with Bruce. He Hulked out in the cell Julian locked him in, and they can't get it open without making him angrier. I'll come right back."

"Go," Aspen told him. "He needs you more than me right now. Poor Bruce…"

"I'll be there in five," Steve said to Natasha before hanging up. "I'm sorry to leave you," he told Aspen. "I'll come right back when we have him out."

"Thank you," she said, getting up and taking the seat next to her mom's bed again. "Good luck with Bruce."

When Steve reached his car there were definitely noises coming from the trunk. A passing woman eyed his car with confusion in her eyes. Steve ducked into the car, pulling out of the lot before his prisoner could make more of a fuss. He drove back to the Tower as quickly as he could and saw to his relief that the Tower was lit up. He pulled into the garage and grabbed his gear before opening the trunk and dragging the man out. He was met with a glare that he supposed was meant to be intimidating but ignored it, untying the man's legs. He jerked the man toward the door to the Tower, not in any mood to be gentle. The man had no choice but to walk in front of him. It was either that or be dragged. Steve headed straight down to the detention level.

"Hey." Natasha came forward to greet him. He saw a chair in front of the cell where the Hulk now temporarily resided. The Hulk seemed calmer than Natasha had described on the phone. His prisoner tried to struggle when he caught sight of the other two Avengers, but Steve shoved him into the cell next to the Hulk, untying his hands before shutting him in. He'd already checked him thoroughly for weapons and just hoped there were no cyanide tablets hidden somewhere. He set his gear down and moved to stand next to Natasha in front of the fused-shut cell.

"Julian really did a job on this."

"Yeah. Tony tried to cut through it with his repulsor rays and it might have worked but the big guy didn't like that much. We didn't want to upset him more. I've talked him down, but I was hoping you might be able to help me pry the door open. Tony made a little hole. I can help him get back to Bruce after that. I tried, but the Hulk is still too upset. I'm sure Julian taunted him."

"Aspen said Julian got away?" Steve didn't like the idea of Julian on the loose in New York any more than Aspen, but they had bigger things to worry about right now. "And the people who broke in?"

"I knocked out two of them." She nodded to a cell across the room. Steve hadn't noticed the two men sitting inside. They were both unconscious, tied to chairs. "The other two got away."

"Did they take anything?" Steve asked. "Tony said he had some research that Strucker might want to get his hands on."

"He's looking into it now. He made sure security was back up properly and that no one else was hiding out in the Tower. He's in the lab now. Some device Daddy Stark invented knocked out everything. Came from the warehouse?"

"Yeah, I'm not too comfortable with the idea of a whole warehouse full of dangerous inventions," Steve said. "Howard was a genius but, like Tony, he didn't always think about the consequences of the things he invented. Just ask Peggy." He turned to study the door. The Hulk watched him warily, but his eyes looked a little more brown than green.

"We're gonna get you out of there, big guy," Natasha said, standing in front of the glass. There were a few hairline cracks in the glass from Hulk's pounding, but the cell was obviously built to contain his kind of strength. Steve squeezed his fingers into the hole Tony had made and pulled. At first the door didn't budge an inch, but the places where Julian had welded it shut started to give and he managed to pry it open wide enough for Natasha to enter the cell.

"Nat," he tried to stop her before she entered, but she turned and smiled at him.

"It's fine," she said.

Steve trusted Bruce, but he wasn't entirely sure how far his trust went with the Hulk. He didn't like the idea of Natasha being in the small cell with him, but she didn't seem afraid so he stepped back to watch as she approached the Hulk. She held out her hand to him and he gently placed his hand over hers. It engulfed hers, but she reached her hand up and slid her fingers across his palm and fingertips like a mother's touch. He stepped back and the green began to recede from his skin. Natasha held out a blanket to him as he transformed back into Bruce. His pants sagged and he wrapped the blanket around his waist when his fingers regained their human dexterity. He sat on the floor, breathing hard, and Natasha crouched before him, not speaking, just there for him. Steve knew Natasha was more than the cold spy she sometimes pretended to be, but he rarely saw the amount of tenderness she now showed. Her face was less guarded, and he could see the furrow of her brow and the concern in her eyes. Finally she reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. Bruce met her eyes and nodded to let her know he was all right.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here," she said, helping him to his feet and leading him from the cell.

"Oh, hey, Steve," Bruce said, his voice weary. "Sorry you had to see that."

Steve shook his head. "Don't apologize," he said. "Julian's a bully, and you were under a lot of stress."

"Where's Aspen?" Bruce asked. "She was coming to meet me. Julian was waiting for her, I think."

"She's fine. She's with her mom at the hospital. Julian burned her mom. She's going to be fine, but she sustained some damage. Julian got away, but let's not worry about that right now," he said.

"I should have stopped him," Bruce said. "I was trying so hard not to turn. I knew it would make things worse. At least he got me in a cell."

"You wouldn't have made things worse," Natasha said quickly.

"It's okay, Natasha. I know the Hulk wouldn't have helped the situation. Not this time."

"I don't think any of us were in control of the situation," Steve told him. "They got away with whatever they were trying to steal most likely. Aspen's mom got hurt. They were just a few steps ahead of us. Hydra or Strucker's men or whoever they were." He glanced back at the man he'd dragged from the facility. "Maybe he'll talk and we can answer some of those questions."

"I can make him talk," Natasha said calmly.

"Later. Let him sweat for awhile," Steve told her as they left the detention floor and headed to the elevator. He knew that feeling of wanting to move forward as quickly as possible, but he'd also learned that taking the time to recover from a hit was important too even if it was only for a few hours. Sometimes they didn't have that luxury, but they were only human. They needed a respite every once in awhile too.

"Hey, you got hurt," Natasha said as the elevator took them up to the lounge. She gently nudged his arm.

"Just a scratch," he brushed it off. "I'm fine."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened onto the lounge. Bruce told them he'd join them in a minute after he grabbed some fresh clothes. As Steve and Natasha entered the lab, Tony looked up from his computer.

"What's the damage?" Steve asked, crossing his arms. Natasha leaned against one of the counters.

"They got what they came for," Tony said. "All my research on amplifying the scepter's power. They have the scepter so they can turn my approximations into solid numbers." He held up a fried looking device. It was the size of a hockey puck. The edges were black as if it had imploded.

"Is that the device?" Steve asked.

"One time use at least," Tony said. "Never thought someone would use it against me."

"Strucker's been two steps ahead of us for a long time. That's going to change one of these days," Steve said. "He's getting bolder, taking risks. He's getting close to something, but he's also leaving trails."

"Don't you see? All the Hydra bases we've taken out, those are just distractions. Sacrifices. We're not getting any closer to Strucker." Tony sat back in his chair, looking disheartened.

"I've lived with the frustration of Hydra still being out there for a long time," Steve told him. "But I also live with the hope that I will live to see the end of Hydra."

"Isn't that the dream? The end of all of this? Peace. No more bad guys to chase after," Tony mused, turning the device slowly around in his hand.

"There are always going to be bad people out there," Steve said. "That's why we're here."

"But what if we didn't have to be?" Tony looked up at him, and Steve saw a familiar look in his brown eyes. Determination. The kind of determination that usually lead to Tony doing something rash without consulting his team first.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Tony shook his head. "Just a thought." He didn't elaborate, but Steve didn't feel like pushing him. He was too tired to argue tonight.

"I'm going back to the hospital," he told them.

"How is Ava?" Tony asked.

"She's going to pull through. Aspen's shaken up. She already watched her dad die. Imagine what she was feeling when she didn't know if her mom was dead or alive. We need to let Amber know Julian escaped."

"I'm on it," Tony said. "Give Aspen a hug for me."

Steve stopped by his room so he could clean up and change into fresh clothes. He stored his shield away. His uniform he'd left in Tony's care. The arm would need to be repaired when things calmed down. Right now he wasn't worried about it. He grabbed a blanket from the couch and a sweater for Aspen, tucking them under his arm. It was late by the time he reached the hospital, but Aspen was still awake, curled up in the chair next to her mom's bed.

"Hey," she said, stretching her arms and getting up to greet him.

He kissed her briefly then handed her the sweater. "I thought you might be cold." She nodded, pulling it over her head and tucking her hands in the front pocket.

"How are things at the Tower?" she asked.

Steve sighed, sitting down in the chair he'd occupied earlier. Aspen pulled up the other chair so they could talk while her mom slept. "Well, whoever broke in got away with some of Tony's research. Did you know he was trying to find a way to amplify the scepter's power? It has a similar reading to the Tesseract, and that had unlimited power. Anyway, they took all the research."

"It makes sense that Tony would want to look into that. Sustainable energy has sort of been his thing for awhile. But he never had access to the scepter, did he?"

"No. He tried to study it, but SHIELD turned him down. It was probably with Hydra the whole time so of course they didn't want Tony Stark getting his hands on that."

"Did you manage to get Bruce back?"

"Yeah. I broke open the cell and Natasha calmed him down. The Hulk really responds to her. It's pretty incredible watching, actually. We've noticed Bruce and Natasha getting closer lately, but she and the Hulk seem to have this understanding too. He really trusts her.

"Her loyalty is something you have to work for but, once you have it, she has your back for life," Aspen said. "So what now? What does this mean for Hydra and for us?"

"It means they're still two steps ahead of us, but we're going to keep looking for Strucker. Natasha's going to interrogate the man I brought in. And she managed to capture two of the men who broke into the Tower. That's sloppy work for Strucker. He's leaving breadcrumbs."

"You know he's too smart to not have already thought about that," Aspen said. "He would have known it was a risk sending in his men. There's always a risk that they'll get captured. There will be some sort of contingency plan for it. Cyanide tablets or refusal to speak or _something_. It won't be that easy as much as we hope it will be. They probably have no idea where Strucker actually is." Steve felt his hope dwindle a little, but he knew Aspen was right. He was just so desperate for any clue, any hint as to where Strucker and the scepter were. "We'll find him though," Aspen said, taking his hand. "He's going to trip up some time, and we're going to know just where he's hiding."

"We'll worry about that tomorrow. You should try to get some sleep." He unfolded the blanket and wrapped it around her. Aspen leaned her head on his shoulder, hand still in his.

"Thank you for being here," she whispered.

"There's nowhere else for me to be right now," he assured her. "I'm just sorry I wasn't here sooner. I should have stayed at the Tower."

"You didn't know it was a trap." Her voice was sleepy, and Steve stopped talking, letting her fall asleep on his shoulder. He thought she was asleep, but then she spoke again. "If I hadn't had my abilities tonight, my mom would have died. How can I take the anti-serum after that? It was selfish of me to even consider taking it."

"It wasn't selfish. We walk a fine line between normalcy and superiority. We try to be heroes but we also try to be human. I wish we lived in a world where you didn't have to choose. I don't know if peace is ever possible." He thought back to Tony's words. _Isn't that the dream? The end of all of this? Peace. No more bad guys to chase after._ What kind of world would that be? Steve wasn't sure he knew how to live without the constant threat of Hydra. If he had the power to end it, he would in a heartbeat, but could he be content to live a normal life? He looked down at Aspen, his heart flushing at the thought of having her by his side whatever the future held. One thing he knew he couldn't live without was her. She'd become a constant in his life, and loving her was as natural as breathing. When sleep finally claimed him, he was holding onto that thought as tightly as he could.


	20. Unsavory Contacts

**18 – Unsavory Contacts – April 25, 2015**

Aspen spent the next few days between the hospital and the Tower. Her mom had woken up the next morning after the blackout incident and had insisted that Aspen go home to get some rest. Aspen had finally given in when Ava had threatened to have Steve carry her out of the hospital, but she'd visited every day. Ava was cleared after a few days but she planned on staying at the Tower until she recovered at Aspen's insistence. Aspen felt guilty that she'd gotten hurt while visiting, but Ava insisted it had been exciting being a part of the Avengers for a night. Tony had contacted Amber and her team of inhumans were on the lookout for Julian, but it was like he'd disappeared into thin air. Aspen was sure she hadn't seen the last of him, but she had bigger things to worry about right now. They'd interrogated the three captives, but as she'd feared, they'd kept their mouths clamped shut. Finally, after Aspen had lost her temper and let loose some of her powers, the one Steve had captured spoke. As it turned out, he had no idea where Strucker was. He'd been hired to shoot at Steve without killing him to buy time, but he'd been contacted through several middlemen in Hydra. He'd only heard of Strucker by reputation, but none of the Avengers doubted that Strucker was behind the theft.

Three weeks after the incident, they were no closer to finding Strucker and it was time for Aspen's mom to go home. She found Steve talking to her in a quiet corner of the lounge. Ava's eyes were lit up and she beamed at Steve. Aspen even saw her wipe a tear away, but she looked anything but sad. She reached out and hugged Steve before noticing Aspen. Steve's cheeks flushed slightly when he turned to find Aspen standing there, and she wondered what they'd been talking about. Ava said nothing, but came forward to hug Aspen.

"I'm going to miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too," Aspen returned, mind still buzzing with curiosity. When her mom didn't bring it up, she shook the thought away. "Are you sure you're okay to travel?"

"Yes. I need to get back. I did enjoy my time here even if most of it was from my bed."

"I'm still really sorry you had to go through that," Aspen said for the millionth time.

"I got to see what it was like to be an Avenger. Well, sort of. An Avenger probably wouldn't have gotten so burnt…" Ava said wistfully.

"Oh believe me, we get injured plenty," Aspen told her. "I still feel terrible it's going to leave a scar. If you want, Doctor Cho can fix that next time she's in the country."

"It's okay," Ava told her. "It's a battle scar. Not that I did much."

"You stayed calm. And you rushed into that room because you thought I was in trouble. That was brave. Avenger brave."

Ava put a hand to Aspen's cheek. "I know everything looks a little bleak right now with all the dead ends you've run into, but believe me when I say it's going to get better. You were meant to live a happy life even if sometimes it seems impossible." She glanced at Steve over Aspen's shoulder. Aspen's curiosity rose again, but then her mom turned away and Steve grabbed her suitcase.

"We'd better go or she'll miss her flight," he said, taking Aspen's hand.

The ride to the airport was quiet, but Aspen sensed an unspoken happiness that seemed to radiate from her mom. Steve seemed nervous, but what he had to be nervous about, she didn't know. She hugged her mom carefully at the airport and watched her start through the long security check line. Steve waited patiently until Aspen was ready to leave.

"Tony asked if I still had any contacts in the smuggler world," Aspen said as they started the drive back to the Tower. "He thought maybe we could trace some equipment Strucker might have bought. If he is trying to harness energy from the scepter he'd need quite a bit of unique equipment for that."

"That's a good idea. _Do_ you still have contacts?"

"I mostly just threw around Danners's name, but I think I should be able to track a few down. When ARTIFACT went down, a lot of smugglers lost jobs. Offer them enough money and who cares who they're giving the information to. Tony's going to help me find a few numbers. I might have to go track some down." She'd hesitated a little when Tony had asked her about contacting some smugglers. It had been a long time since she'd been in that world, and it was a world she'd rather stay away from, but she couldn't deny that someone might have some information regarding Strucker and Hydra.

"I'd be happy to help if I can," Steve said, and she noticed he didn't immediately volunteer to come with her. She smiled.

"I'll let you know."

She met Tony in the lab, leaving Steve to find Natasha. She'd been working with her contacts as well to see if she could find anything. Clint was back from wherever he'd been and was still fuming over what had happened when he was away. When he'd first arrived back and heard what had happened, he'd hugged Aspen so tightly she thought he might have cracked a few ribs. Thor would be arriving back soon, and Aspen was excited to have the team back together. She had started to feel a disconnect when they were separated. She smiled at the thought.

"I've managed to track down a couple smugglers using some tracing technology. Natasha helped too. She's much better at this spy business than me," Tony said in way of greeting.

"Well, you are a science nerd," Aspen said, leaning an elbow on Tony's shoulder to see what he'd come up with. He had two old SHIELD files up on his computer.

"Hey!" he protested at her quip. "You were a science nerd not too long ago too. Don't forget it."

"Andy Harrick and Sophia Carrington," she read the names under two mug shots.

"Ring any bells? They were on SHIELD's minor threat list." Tony turned his attention back to the computer.

"Somewhere between an angry bee and Steve? Yeah, they worked for Danners at one point. We didn't really interact between each other, but we crossed paths a few times. Do we know where they are right now?"

"Last known addresses along with some known dealers they work with." Tony pulled up an address. "Harrick was last seen a few days ago, so that's pretty fresh. Natasha helped me trace their old information and find more recent activity."

Aspen leaned closer. Harrick was last seen in New Jersey outside of Trenton while Carrington had been active in Arizona somewhat close to where ARTIFACT had once resided. "If I take the jet, I could track them down."

"Do your powers work like that?" Tony asked. "Like a bloodhound?"

"Not the most flattering comparison, but I think I can pick up on traces of them. There's this thing I can do where I skim people's minds – I don't get inside of them, you know I don't do that – but I can sort of scan for information like a police scanner. I also know where they might tend to hang out. I used to be one of them, so I know how to track them down."

"Take the jet. See what you can find," Tony said.

Aspen had asked Tony several months ago if he'd teach her how to fly the jet. Her abilities made it easier for her to pick up on skills like that, and she felt confident enough to pilot the Avenjet herself. It was both thrilling and intimidating, but it certainly cut off travel time if she needed to get somewhere fast.

"I'll head out this afternoon," she said, straightening.

"I'll send the information to your phone and anything else I find," Tony told her. "Be careful."

"I will."

…

As Aspen maneuvered the Avenjet off the landing pad and into the afternoon sky, stealth mode keeping it from sight, she felt a trill of excitement. This was her mission. Tony was on standby if she needed help, his suit able to get him to her quickly, but she'd assured Steve she could handle this alone. His presence would only cause the smugglers to clam up, and she was more than a threat to them if they pushed her. Trenton was a very short flight from the Tower, and she landed the jet on the outskirts of the city on top of an abandoned warehouse. She was several buildings away from what had been identified as the headquarters for a smuggling racket, and she pulled out a set of binoculars to see if she could confirm it was still active. The building looked abandoned to the casual eye, but the armed guard standing at the doors was a dead giveaway to anyone who knew what to look for. Aspen stowed the binoculars and lowered the ramp to the jet. She might have gone in under the cover of night, but as she skimmed the minds of the people inside the building, she picked up on her target almost immediately.

Ever since Julian's attack during the blackout, Aspen had been training harder than ever with her powers, testing them and pushing them to their limit. She'd discovered that her limits were nearly nonexistent and though the thought had always scared her, she kept pushing until she'd reached new levels with her powers. The power to manipulate energy was one that she had especially worked with. She found that she could use the energy in a room to carry her up and down. Not fly, exactly, but hover. She was able to flip higher and jump further. She'd also learned to manipulate the light around her in a way that disguised her as a mere flutter of movement. She'd achieved invisibility, and she'd never forget the first time she'd shared this new ability with Clint, causing him to jump nearly two feet in the air and spill popcorn all over the lounge. It didn't last long because she couldn't quite understand the mechanics of it. She knew she was overthinking it, but now she pulled upon that power and cloaked herself in light. She used a grappling device to lower herself to the ground and took off toward the smuggler's nest, keeping to the walls of the industrial buildings around her. If someone looked closely enough, they'd see movement, and she wanted to slip into that building unnoticed. She reached the street where the smuggler's headquarters sat, eyeing the guard. His gun was at his belt, barely visible under his jacket. A passersby wouldn't notice it.

As he turned his head, Aspen slipped across the street, vaulting the tall fence and landing lightly on the other side. There were a few trees and shrubs that lent her shadows to meld with. She felt her concentration slipping a little and hurried toward the back of the building as her invisibility slid away. Well, it had gotten her in. She'd train more when she got back. She spotted an open window two stories above her. She eyed the tree that grew flush with the building. With a nimble leap, she grabbed a low hanging branch and pulled herself up into the tree, careful to keep quiet as she crept toward the window. Pausing outside of it, she listened hard, but the voices she heard were in rooms beyond this one. She felt for heat signatures and found that there were five people in the building. Two on the first floor and three on the second. She carefully pulled herself into the window, setting her feet softly onto the tile floor. The room she had entered was an office. Small and cramped, but obviously in use. Papers lay in haphazard piles on the worn desk, but Aspen wasn't interested in their secrets. She skimmed minds again, the lightest touch that they wouldn't notice, and found Harrick. He was with the other two men upstairs, and she could read frustration radiating from him. She crept toward the door and saw that it led out onto an open hall, stairs cutting through the middle to lead down.

The voices were now clear, across the hall and behind closed doors. She crept closer, leaning down to avoid the big window at the front of the building. She paused at the door, leaning an ear against it and heightening her hearing to pick up on the argument. There must have been other rooms past these doors because the voices were still faint. She picked up on Harrick's voice. He was insisting he hadn't been paid for the last item he'd brought in. The other two men seemed to be letting him argue, but a moment later Aspen heard a firm interrupt. "Enough. We've let you have your word. The goods you delivered were not what we asked for. If I didn't know any better, I would say you were holding out on us. Do you have another buyer lined up? Someone who will pay more?" The threat was clear in the words.

"Of course not." Aspen could sense Harrick's nervousness. She skimmed his mind and found thoughts of the buyer willing to pay him more. Hydra. She just needed to get him alone so she could interrogate him about the transaction. He was already edgy. It wouldn't take much to make him talk.

"Get out of my sight. Bring me the rest of what I asked for and then we'll talk about payment."

"Yes, sir." Harrick didn't seem to have much backbone. Even better. Aspen moved back toward the window and was climbing down when she heard heavy stomping down the stairs. The guard greeted Harrick as he left, and Aspen scaled the fence quickly, pulling up her invisible shield again as she trailed Harrick away from the building. He'd parked his car behind another abandoned building making this almost too easy for Aspen. She waited until they were out of sight of the guard before appearing.

"Hello, Andrew," she said, leaning against the back of his car.

He jumped, dropping his keys and cursing. He looked around in confusion. "Where did you come from?" he asked. "Christ, you scared the hell out of me."

"That was the plan. We need to talk."

"About what? Who are you?" he asked, leaning down to get his keys. Aspen reached out a hand and they sailed into her grasp. Harrick jumped back, eyeing her with fear in his eyes.

"We used to work for the same employer," she said casually. "Joseph Danners."

Harrick's eyes hardened. "He's dead now."

"I know. I was there when he died. I need some information about your Hydra buyers," she said, getting to the point. "There's a reward in it for you if you cooperate."

Harrick's hesitation faded a bit at the mention of a reward. "Yeah? Say I do have some Hydra buyers. Who wants to know?"

"I do. That's all you need to know."

"And my reward?"

"Greedy, aren't you. I guess that's the nature of smugglers. Your reward is I let you go instead of turning you in to the Avengers," she told him, taking a step forward. "And you _don't_ want to test me."

The fear returned to his eyes. "How did you do that thing with the keys?" he asked.

"Try running and I'll show you," she said, tinkling the keys together. Harrick swallowed hard. "I'm looking for someone deep within Hydra. Having a bit of trouble tracking him, but he's been up to no good playing with science he doesn't understand. He needs equipment. Specialized equipment that's hard to come by. Sold anything like that to Hydra lately?"

Harrick looked conflicted for a moment as if weighing Aspen's wrath against Hydra's. "If I tell you, they'll kill me," he said.

"Perhaps, but I have no intention of telling them my sources. This stays between the two of us." She waited, watching Harrick carefully. He sighed, looking resigned.

"Fine. Yeah, I sold a few things to Hydra a couple weeks back."

"The part of your assignment that didn't quite reach these guys?" she asked, motioning toward the building Harrick had just left.

"How did you-? Never mind. Yeah. Hydra offered me a lot more money. They wanted these pieces of equipment that'd come from a lab. They were stolen goods, hard to fence. Hydra got word that I had them and offered me a lot of money for them."

"Did you get names?" she asked.

"Nah, just handed them off and got my money. I didn't ask more questions. I know what Hydra does to people who ask questions." He eyed his car keys, looking as if he very much wanted to escape this situation.

"Tell you what. I'll double what they paid you if you get me in touch with them," Aspen said. Tony had given her permission to bargain. That was how it worked in the world of smugglers. They sold to the highest bidder even if it meant turning on the people they worked for. She watched Harrick's eyes gleam with interest.

"Where's your proof?" he asked, trying not to look too eager.

"You heard of Tony Stark?" Aspen asked. Harrick nodded. "He's basically like my adopted father."

"You're one of them, aren't you? I recognize you now." Wariness clouded his eyes, but Aspen had expected this.

"I am. But like I said, I'm going to let you walk free. You upheld your end of the bargain. This is a bonus. Hydra will never learn you gave me this information. You just tell me how to get in touch with them. I'll handle it from there."

"Okay, fine. There was this man who contacted me. I think he was one of the major players. He said he didn't usually reach out like that, but I had just what he needed. I gave him the names of a few people who could get him the other things he needed. He might not be the man you're looking for, but he might get you closer. I want to see the money before I hand over the number though." Aspen skimmed his mind to find out just how much she owed him. He named off a sum much higher, but when she called him on it, his eyes widened in fear and he told her the real amount. Aspen pulled a credit card out of her pocket. It wasn't really Tony's money. Clever Natasha had found a way to drain some of the Hydra bank accounts for the facilities that they'd shut down. She'd cut off all Hydra access to them, but it was times like these that the money came in handy. "It's on here. Next time you go to the bank, the agreed upon amount will be on there." She pulled out her phone and brought up the account, transferring over the money to the card and holding up her phone to show Harrick.

"Okay, this is his card." Harrick hastily pulled a torn business card out of his pocket and handed it to Aspen. It was for a bar located in Trenton. She turned it over and found a phone number. "You just have to promise they won't come after me."

Aspen could make no such promise. Harrick was right to be afraid of Hydra, but he was also underestimating them. There was a good chance they'd know how Aspen got the number, but she'd do her best not to give anything away. "I promise," she said, pushing aside her guilt. "Just in case you might want to use that money to get as far away from here as possible," she said as an afterthought. "Hydra doesn't play around. This is important though," she told him, holding up the card. "Thank you." She tossed him his keys and headed back to where she'd left the Avenjet, taking off in stealth mode. She'd find a safer place to park it. An empty baseball field suited her. It was closed, construction expected to start in a few months on a series of condos. Aspen pulled out her phone and blocked her number before calling the Hydra informant.

"Who is this?" a man's voice answered the phone.

"Someone who has something you might be interested in buying," she said, keeping her voice slow and lazy. She was in control of this situation. Offer him something he wanted and she was in control of him.

"I don't buy from unknown sources," he snapped.

"Then let me throw out a name. Danners? Heard of him? I used to work for him. He practically adopted me. I'm the one who killed him." Indirectly, but let him think she had.

There was a long pause and then, "I'm listening."

Aspen rolled her eyes. If there was one thing Hydra couldn't resist it was someone just as cold and ruthless as them. As if bonding over dead bodies was healthy. "What would you say if I told you I could get you one of Howard Stark's most notorious inventions?" This had been Tony's part of the plan. They'd taken a trip up to his dad's old facility and picked out something they thought Hydra wouldn't be able to resist. Tony had replicated it, the one difference being the decoy was useless. If asked for a demonstration, Aspen would give one, but it would be an easy enough trick if she played her hand right.

"I'm listening."

"It's this special little device that sends off a high-pitched frequency. It disables everyone within a fifty-foot radius. I'm willing to part with it but it comes with a big price tag. It wasn't easy to obtain."

"And what makes you think we'd be interested in this?" She could hear the interest in his voice, but she played along.

"You know the Avengers are after you. You know it's only a matter of time until they catch up to you. They've got some strong players. Why not use Stark's weapons against him?"

"Do you have the device with you?"

"I do." She waited as he mulled it over. She knew she had him though. "I can get my hands on more too for the right price."

"How did you get this number?"

She'd been expecting this question and handled it smoothly. "I keep my sources anonymous, but this isn't the first time I've had dealings with Hydra."

"Can we meet? I'd like to discuss this proposition further," he asked after a pause.

Aspen smiled. "When and where?"

"How close are you to New Jersey? There's a favorite haunt of mine where I conduct business sometimes." Aspen looked down at the business card. Finnegan's Tavern.

"I could be there in a few hours."

"Finnegan's Tavern. It's in Trenton. Two hours."

"I'll be there."

"How will I know you?" he asked when she didn't ask the same question first.

"We'll know each other." Aspen hung up, glancing at the time on her phone. It was a few minutes after three. It gave her two hours to kill, but she'd wanted to be vague about how far away she was. He would assume she was driving. Aspen decided to call Tony and update him while she waited, hoping he'd be pleased by how well his plan was going.

"Well done," he said after she'd updated him. "Are your smuggling days coming back to you?"

"Just the realization that that life really sucked," Aspen said. "They're lowlifes really and I used to be one of them."

"It wasn't really your choice. Danners made threats, lied, pretended he cared. You did what you had to to survive."

"Thanks, Tony, but it was a bad choice and I accept full responsibility for it. I'm just glad Clint recruited me when he did. I might still be a smuggler if he didn't. Or in jail. Or dead." She owed Clint a lot and she'd never forget it. Coming back here, threatening Harrick. It brought back all the bad memories from her days working for ARTIFACT. When she'd been under Danners's employment, she'd never realized how bad it had really been. He disguised his anger and cruelty with a facade of caring. Really he'd wanted to use her the whole time. Everyone in her life had wanted to use her. Clint was the first person who had offered her a chance for something more. "I'd never go back. I'm good where I'm at."

"Good. So when are you meeting this guy?"

"A couple hours. I wanted to make him think I had to travel to get there. He'd be suspicious if he knew I was already in Trenton. It seems too easy, so I'll be ready for anything. It might be another dead end, but it might not. If I can convince him I'm the real deal along with my goods, then I should be able to get something out of him."

"Just don't get yourself into trouble. Remember you have a team to call in if things get rough."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I've got this handled though." A time ago she might have been only too glad to bring in help but right now she felt like this was something she needed to do on her own. If anything, she needed to prove to herself that she didn't always need her team to help her get a job done. She had awhile to go so she kicked up her feet and leaned back in the pilot's seat. She'd get there early and scope out the place, see if she could skim anything vital out of people's minds without delving in too deeply. Somehow she didn't feel like Hydra deserved her normal decision to stay out of peoples' minds.

A quarter to six, she found the bar and the alley behind it. She reached out and skimmed the minds of the patrons. She sensed the tired bartender and three drunks at the counter, hard on their luck. There were a few girls serving beer. One was wishing she could go home while the other was checking out a guy in the corner. Aspen narrowed in on the guy in the corner. His thoughts were dark, hidden. She dug a little further. He was waving off the girl. She could sense his annoyance at the interruption. He was waiting for someone. This had to be her guy. Aspen slid into the girl's mind, focusing hard on what the girl was saying. She opened her eyes into a different view. She'd never tried this before, and it startled her so much she blinked out of the vision. She steadied herself against the wall of the alley and tried again. This time when her sight melded with the girl's she focused. The girl was already walking away, but she glanced back at the man and Aspen got a good view of him. He was fairly young with dark hair and shifty eyes. Definitely a good candidate for Hydra. She pulled out of the vision, feeling more confident now that she knew what her target looked like. The second her eyes focused back on the alley she knew something was wrong. Warnings went off in her head as two arms reached around her neck and squeezed.


	21. Ghosts of the Past

**Author's Note:** So in this chapter I include a flashback that I originally wrote for _Agent Tolvar_. It explains a little about Strucker since I wrote him a little differently from AoU. I think he's a very interesting villain, but we really don't get to see much of him in the movie. I was disappointed by that, so I wanted to give a little more about him even if it was in the past.

I can't believe Civil War is coming up so quickly. I was thinking I'd have to take this big, long hiatus between Age of Ultron and Civil War in my story, but I haven't even written the party scene yet and the movie is coming out in half a month! I'm excited to catch up with the movies although I'll probably end up writing some stuff between AoU and Civil War since (I think) there's a year in between. Anyway, I'm excited and also kind of terrified...

* * *

 **19 – Ghosts of the Past – April 25, 2015**

"You're pretty calm considering Aspen's on a mission alone," Natasha said, leaning over the back of the couch where Steve was sitting. He'd been going through old SHIELD files to see if anything useful caught his eye – any hint of where Strucker might be hiding.

"Outward appearances can be deceiving," he replied. In truth he was more concerned about the fact that this was Tony's plan. Tony's plans could sometimes be too focused on results rather than how one went around getting those results. Aspen was always eager to prove herself, so she tended to dive headlong into whatever plans her teammates came up with. For the most part that wasn't a bad thing. Natasha and Clint's plans were always well thought out and took every possible eventuality into consideration. Steve had his military background and a lot of experience with strategizing. Tony, however, saw an outcome and assumed he'd have no trouble overcoming anything that got in his way. Steve knew Tony would never consciously put Aspen in harm's way, but not even Tony with all his genius could predict every outcome. "I'm not so much worried about her handling herself. It's that she's going back to the life she came from. It wasn't a good life."

"She doesn't let her past define her," Natasha assured him. "She's stronger than that."

"I know. I just wish I could spare her from painful memories. It's a part of her life I wasn't even there for. I remember when she first told me about it. I was so surprised because she seemed far too young be involved in something like that. I just had this instinct to protect her, but it didn't take me long to realize she was more than capable of taking care of herself. That instinct never went away though."

"We always want to protect the ones we love," Natasha said, sitting on the arm of the couch. "That's no bad thing." She nodded to the files he had strewn all over the coffee table. "Find anything yet?"

Steve sighed. "If I wanted to know the restaurants Hydra's top thugs favor, I'd be in luck. Most of this information is either outdated or incomplete."

"Maybe we're looking at this wrong," Natasha said, sliding a file toward her.

Steve motioned for her to take whatever she wanted. Maybe she'd find something he had missed. "I've tried looking for patterns, for anything that might lead us to Strucker, but all they lead to are dead ends."

"We're pretty sure Strucker has the scepter and is most likely experimenting with it," Natasha said.

"Yeah."

"Well he'd need scientists to help with his research. People who specialized in studying energy. Are there any files on SHIELD scientists that might have gone rogue or been double agents?"

"This file has information on the SHIELD Station where the scepter was studied. It lists all the scientists involved. Since most of them kept their identities hidden until after SHIELD fell, I have no idea who was Hydra." He handed Natasha the file.

"I can get in touch with some of my contacts, see if any of these names are active with Hydra. If Aspen's mission goes as planned, hopefully she'll be bringing home a name or two. I'll let you know when I have something." She left, taking the file with her, and Steve stood, rolling his achy shoulders and stretching his arms. He found it hard to sit for long periods of time, seeing little action, little progress. He walked over to the window and looked down at the miniature cars clogging Park Avenue. He wondered if the people down below ever looked up and felt safer knowing the Avengers were in their city. If they couldn't even find Strucker though then how were they supposed to protect people? He saw movement behind him in the reflection of the glass and turned to see Clint entering the room.

"You're not moping, are you?" he asked, flopping down in one of the chairs and fixing Steve with a look.

"Not intentionally."

"Natasha sent me to find you. Said something about helping you research files." He made a face. "Not my idea of a Saturday night, but I'm here to help." He grabbed a file at random, flipping through the pages. "You do know SHIELD kept most of their files on computers, right?" he asked, quirking a brow.

"Sometimes I like having something I can actually hold. Besides, some of these files predate computers." Strucker was a name he was familiar with. During the war, he'd come across Strucker and his experiments in a village at the base of the Alps. Strucker had taken the villagers and experimented on them. Strucker himself had somehow survived the war like Zemo, his life lengthened by some Hydra science. Old enemies seemed to have a way of popping back up in his life when he least expected it.

"I don't know what you're hoping to find," Clint said, setting the file aside.

"I thought maybe Strucker's past might give some sort of clue as to where to find him now."

"Okay, wait, Aspen mentioned something about that. She said you'd actually met him. Freaky Hydra science…" He shook his head. "They can't just die, they have to live on for several generations, continuing their evil work. So what's his story?"

Steve sat back down. "Well," he said. "It was during the war…"

 **1944**

Steve turned to survey his surroundings. The snow flurried around him in torrents, clinging to his eyelashes. Bucky came up beside him, snow dotting his dark hair and melting into rivulets down his cheeks. He gave Steve a grim look. "Are you sure you dragged us out here for a reason?"

"Coordinates indicate that Hydra took over a small village on the outskirts of the Alps. I'm not sure why they're interested in this village. I guess we'll find out."

The Howling Commandos followed them as they forged their way through the snow. Howard Stark had flown them in as close as he could get without alerting Hydra to their presence. They'd taken down a fair share of Hydra bases over the past year, and Steve didn't have any reason to suspect this would be any different. As they rounded on the village, Steve motioned for the Howling Commandos to spread out in the trees surrounding the base of the mountains. Bucky joined him behind an outcropping of rocks. He pulled out a set of binoculars and handed them over to Steve. "What do you see?" he asked.

Steve focused the binoculars on the village in the distance. It was hard to see through the snow, but he was able to perceive the outlines of buildings along with the distinctive sign of Hydra. Soldiers lined the edge of the village, Hydra weapons in hand. "Hydra is there guarding the perimeter. I can't see any further because of the snow."

"I thought they improved your vision before you came to war," Bucky said, his tone edged with teasing.

"Yeah, well they didn't give me the power to control the weather, so we're going to have to make due." They joined the rest of the Howling Commandos and Steve outlined the plan. "Alright, we need to take them from all sides. Hydra will try to use the villagers to their advantage if there are any left here. Civilian protection is priority. Now we don't know how many Hydra soldiers are down there or why they're down there so tread carefully. Dugan and Jones, you take the northern side. Morita and Dernier and Falsworth the west. Bucky and I will take the south. Wait for my signal."

They nodded and moved out, disappearing into the snowfall. Bucky stuck close to Steve's side as they moved toward the southern entrance to the village. The road led straight up to the village. Even though Steve could hardly see through all the snow, he was glad for the cover especially when he heard a truck rumbling toward the village. He motioned for Bucky to drop. His friend did so at once but gave Steve a disgusted look as the snow soaked through their clothing. Steve gave him a shrug from where he lay a few inches away. The truck slowly rumbled into view, and Bucky's face registered why Steve had told him to drop.

"I thought we were making snow angels," he teased softly, rolling his pale blue eyes at Steve.

"No time for that." Steve flashed him a grin. "Maybe after the war."

"Sure."

They fell silent as the truck passed. The Hydra guards went forward to meet it, speaking with the driver for a second before waving him through. The truck drove straight into the village, vanishing into the winter fog.

"Come on." Steve motioned Bucky forward and they leapt up from the snowy ground. Steve could feel the chill working its way through his suit. He readjusted his shield on his left arm, keeping his eyes on the Hydra guards. They worked their way down the incline, and he motioned for Bucky to sneak behind while he met them head on. Bucky tipped his head to the side but nodded moving silently away. Steve gave a sharp whistle. Before the Hydra soldiers could figure out where the sound had come from, Steve and Bucky were on them. Steve's shield crashed down on a Hydra guard's head. He spun around to knock a gun out of another's hand. Bucky used his rifle to knock out the other two guards. They heard shouting from inside the village, but the Howling Commandos had it well under hand. Steve and Bucky ran to join them in the center of the village. Steve saw people peering out of the windows of the small houses. They looked terrified even though the Howling Commandos had knocked out all of the Hydra guards. Dugan and the others helped pull them into the center of the village where they stood around them, weapons aimed just in case any of them woke up. Steve and Bucky worked their way toward the east of the village where the houses ended and the mountain started. Built into the side of the mountain was what looked like a temple. Hydra banners hung across the front of the building. Steve and Bucky exchanged a look before striding toward it. Steve didn't know what to expect but what they found when they entered the building was a shock. Equipment lined the walls and villagers lay strapped to cots, some with wires sticking out of their arms. Hydra scientists turned to survey Steve and Bucky. One of them scurried into another room.

"What is this?" Steve asked aloud.

"They're experimenting on them," Bucky said, his voice strained. Steve looked over and saw hooded fear in his eyes. He reached out and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Across the room another man entered. He was dressed in a lab coat but had the bearing of someone in charge. One of his hands was missing from the elbow down and had been replaced by a metal hand. A monocle was positioned over one eye.

"I see we have some unwelcome guests," he said, striding forward. "We are in the middle of some very important discoveries. Perhaps you could come back another time."

"That's not going to happen. You need to let these people go. We took your guards down. You have nowhere else to go, so let's make this easy."

The man chuckled softly. "Oh, I don't think I'll be going anywhere, Captain."

"How do you know who I am?"

"The costume? The red, white, and blue shield?" The man lifted an eyebrow. "All of Hydra knows who you are. I hope you don't think you intimidate me." He flexed his metal arm and sparks rose along the surface until the entire arm was letting off an electrical charge. He took a step toward Steve and Bucky.

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

"Baron Wolfgang von Strucker," the man replied as if everyone should have heard of him. The Hydra scientists behind them were hurrying to pack up papers and folders, fear etched on their faces. Bucky gave Steve an uncertain look. Strucker didn't look like much of a fighter, but as they watched, he pulled a long saber out of a sheath, tossing his lab coat aside.

"This research is important. I will not have you destroying it."

"You got this?" Bucky asked. "I'll get the villagers out of here."

"Go," Steve said. "I've got it." He faced Strucker wondering exactly how skilled he was with his saber. He held it his metal hand, and the electrical charge ignited the blade as well. Steve sidestepped cautiously, keeping his eyes on Strucker, waiting for him to strike. Strucker seemed intent on studying him first though.

"Such an interesting specimen you are, Captain. One of a kind. Well, perhaps not _one_ of a kind."

"I'm not a specimen," Steve ground out.

"Do you prefer 'experiment'?"

"I'd prefer less talking."

"Ah yes, always the soldier. Ready to jump into battle for his country." Across the room Bucky was releasing the villagers, helping them to their feet. The Hydra scientists didn't make any attempts to stop him. They huddled in the far corner of the temple, sending worried glances at Strucker. Strucker himself paid them no mind. "Well then," Strucker continued. "I shan't disappoint you." He struck so quickly Steve hardly had a chance to avoid the blow. He sidestepped and flung his shield up as Strucker stabbed at him again. There was nothing inexperienced or clumsy about Strucker's fighting. He was obviously very skilled – reminding Steve of Baron Zemo, another swordsman he'd come up against – and graceful as well, providing a certain elegance to their fight. Steve focused, knocking the sword aside and punching out at Strucker. His fist collided with the man's face, but as Strucker flew backward, he grabbed Steve's arm, dropping the sword in the process. An electric current surged through Steve's body, and he cried out, trying to force the metal hand off of him. Strucker let go, and Steve stumbled backward, his body aching from the electric force that had traveled through it.

"Hey!" Bucky shouted. He threw something at Strucker and it hit him in the back, knocking him off kilter. Steve struck out with his shield, and Strucker hit the floor. Strucker reached for his sword. Steve nearly put his foot down on Strucker's arm, but he was afraid of getting shocked again. He watched Strucker warily as he got to his feet.

"Bites, doesn't it?" Strucker asked. "Not as much as losing my arm, but now I have much more use of it."

"You think because you have a metal arm you have the advantage?" Bucky asked. "Think again." He flung himself at Strucker, forcing his metal arm against his own throat. Strucker jolted as the electricity turned against him.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted as his friend collapsed on the ground, sparks fizzing off his fingertips. Strucker fell to his knees.

"I'm fine," Bucky waved Steve off. "Finish him."

Steve hesitated, conflicted, but he knew he needed to press his advantage. He turned to Strucker and kicked out straight at his chin sending him flying backwards. A punch to the face, and Strucker was out cold, his electrical arm fizzing harmlessly next to him. Steve immediately hurried over to Bucky, crouching down next to him.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "That was a stupid thing to do," he scolded Bucky without giving him a chance to reply.

Bucky groaned, struggling to sit up. Steve placed a hand on his back to help him up. "You're welcome."

"I had him on the ropes."

Bucky grinned. "I know you did."

"Let's strap him down before we join the others." He helped Bucky to his feet and the two of them pulled Strucker up onto one of the cots, carefully avoiding his electrified arm. Bucky tightened the straps around his non-metal arm and legs, face grim. Steve knew he must be remembering his time strapped down by Zola. Anger heated his face. He looked over and saw one of the patients that Bucky hadn't unstrapped from her cot. Steve realized why at once. The patient was dead, a trickle of blood running out of the corner of her mouth. She looked young, perhaps not even twenty yet. Ugly stitching ran down the collar of her thin dress. Steve pulled a white sheet over her head.

"Horrible, isn't it?" Bucky asked. He'd moved alongside Steve, blue eyes clouded with disgust and sorrow.

"I don't understand such disregard for human life," Steve agreed. "Were there any others who were…gone?"

"No. Some weren't in good shape, but they should be all right now that Hydra's done for. I sent the scientists packing. The Commandos should have them now."

"We'll transport them back to the Allies in the truck that came in. I imagine Colonel Phillips will be glad to get his hands on Strucker." They left him strapped down to the cot, still unconscious and made their way outside where they found the Howling Commandos already ordering the Hydra soldiers and scientists onto the truck.

"You alright?" Dugan asked, striding up.

"Yeah, we're okay," Steve replied. Bucky rolled his shoulders, but gave Steve a stiff smile. "We've got their leader in there. Nasty guy with a metal arm – an _electrical_ metal arm."

"Well we'll see how he likes it when we throw a bucket of water on him," Dugan said. "I'll go get him."

"I'll help." Steve followed Dugan back into the building. Bucky stayed behind to help the others.

"Where did you leave him?" Dugan asked, turning to Steve. Steve looked over his shoulder. The cot was empty, restraints loose on the floor. Strucker had escaped.

 **Present**

Clint looked a bit ill after Steve was done with the story. "I've been fighting Hydra for a long time, but somehow it always surprises me how little they value human life."

"Agreed."

"You don't suppose he's experimenting again, do you?" Clint asked.

"I don't know."

"We know the scepter can affect people," Clint said, his expression growing dark. "But other than mind-control, I'm not sure what else it could do."

"One thing is clear: we need to stop Strucker. Whatever he's doing, it's not good."

"Aspen will get something," Clint assured him. "In the meantime, let's pore over some old files."


	22. Blood on White Tiles

**Author's Note:** I really like this chapter. It's dark and shows a side to Aspen I'm not even sure she knew existed. I like writing dark things. Anyway, thank you for all the favorites and follows! I am so happy that this series keeps getting more and more readers. I never get tired of writing in it!

So I'm posting this in a small amount of free time I have amid my crazy life. First of all working two jobs takes up SO much of my life. Over 40 hours a week some weeks and some times I work 10-8:15 between the two jobs. Second of all, I just got my own apartment! So I'm in the process of moving. I hate moving. I have lived in the same house my entire life besides moving away for university for two years. It's only like five blocks away from my parents' house which makes it easy but do you have any idea how many boxes of books I've been moving? And they're like all hardcover. What was I thinking? I just feel stressed because I'm one of those people who needs everything planned out and organized and done right away and I got this apartment practically overnight, so I'm not organized as much as I'd like to be. Still doing some shopping for essentials. But the apartment is so cute and nice and inexpensive and close to both my jobs and they allow zebra finches! I might not have internet for awhile (I've paid the deposit, just waiting for Frontier to contact me about the free installation...) So I will hopefully be getting a lot of writing done in the meantime. And reading. I got sucked into the library book void after I started working there. I'm frantically trying to finish a stack of books and comics and some have holds on them, so I can't renew them... It's intense, but I'm a fast reader.

Anyway, enjoy. I'll keep writing and posting. I can always go to somewhere with internet to post the next chapter if I don't have internet in a week. (Although I might go crazy without internet...)

* * *

 **20 – Blood on White Tiles – April 25, 2015**

Aspen didn't struggle as the arm tightened around her neck. She realized at once that she had been mistaken about the Hydra agent. This man reeked of hatred and malice, his mind dark and twisted. She'd been too preoccupied with outward appearance. She'd also let her guard down.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice harsh in her ear. Aspen smiled to herself. He was not afraid yet, but he would be.

"Is this how you treat all your potential sellers?" Aspen asked, trying to keep her voice strong despite the strain on her windpipes.

"The device you offered to sell me? I know where it came from. My men broke into the facility where it was housed. It was there when we went through the inventory and Tony Stark tripled security after that so either you're working for him or you're trying to sell cheap knockoffs."

"You're smarter than I thought you'd be," Aspen admitted, slightly chagrined that her rouse was so easily shattered. She could get him to talk now, get the information she needed and get out, but that didn't guarantee her the information she _really_ needed. There were so many layers to Hydra, and you really needed to burrow in to reach their inner workings. There were too many expendable agents working on the surface. "So maybe the device is a fake. I've got other things I can sell you." She let a hint of desperation slip into her words.

The man responded by thrusting her against the brick wall behind the bar. The abrasive wall scraped her cheek painfully and she let herself whimper. "Not so confident anymore, are you?" the man said, enjoying his power over her. If only he knew who she was, what she could do. She kept up her act though.

"I can sell you information!" she said quickly.

"Don't make me laugh." His arms had eased up on her neck, but he still held her against the wall none too gently.

She lightly skimmed his mind, looking for something useful. "I have contacts. Sophia Carrington?" She felt the man tense. "I know you're looking for her. She promised to sell you something but then she changed her mind and ran. I know where she is. We used to work together. We were smugglers for ARTIFACT."

"ARTIFACT went down a long time ago." He was interested though. He thought she might be useful after all.

"Not all its secrets."

"All right, I'll bite. _Where is she_?" Aspen tried not to wince at the smell of stale cigarettes that clung to his breath.

"I want to see what you're willing to trade first," she said.

"I don't kill you is what I'll trade," he snarled, pressing her face harder into the brick wall.

"I want to speak to your leaders," Aspen said, putting a note of impertinence in her voice. "I don't deal with middle men."

"You can deal with me or you can die in this alley." Something cold pressed against the side of Aspen's head. A gun.

"Then my secrets die with me," she said. "And Strucker doesn't get his tools."

The gun eased and then pressed harder into her temple. "How do you know about Strucker?" the man hissed. She'd caught him off guard.

"I said I don't deal with middle men," she repeated. "But neither does Strucker, and he'll be very upset if he doesn't get what he needs. I'd hate to be the one who put a bullet in the head of the girl who had all the information."

She could almost hear him thinking. As he deliberated, she slipped her hand into her pocket and pressed two buttons on her phone. One would send the Avenjet back to the Tower on autopilot. The other was a distress call to the other Avengers.

"You want to speak to my leaders? Fine, have it your way, but we do it on _my_ terms."

She found out what those were a moment later when his gun came crashing down on her head, sending her reeling to the ground. Her head hit the hard ground, and sparks exploded before her eyes before growing dim. Everything going according to plan. Well, she could have skipped the knockout, she thought dimly as she faded into unconsciousness. But everything else was going smoothly. She hoped.

…

Clint and Steve had scoured the contents of the folders in front of them but nothing had given them any clue as to where Stucker might be hiding.

"If I have to read one more file on these lowlifes, I'm going to jump out that window," Clint said, tossing down the last folder and leaning back in his chair.

"Let's give it a break," Steve said. His eyes stung from staring at the papers for so long. Something beeped next to him, and he grabbed for his phone. He sat up straighter the next moment. "It's Aspen," he said, turning his eyes to Clint. "It's a distress call."

Clint leapt up from his seat. "Then what are we waiting for? Where is she?"

"She's in Trenton, New Jersey, but she's on the move. She took the Quinjet. What if she needs help right now?" Steve felt a stab of frustration.

"She has Tony on standby. His suit can get him there quickly," Clint told him. On cue, Tony stepped out of the lab. He was holding his phone.

"You two get the distress call?" he asked.

"She's near Trenton, New Jersey. But she's on the move. You're the only one who can get to her quickly enough to help," Steve said, wishing Tony was already suited up. He was staring at his phone though, frowning.

"The Avenjet is on its way back. ETA twenty minutes. The only way it could do that on its own is if Aspen sent it back. I programed her phone to control it on autopilot so if she ever needed it to come to her, she could control it remotely. She purposely sent it back."

"Tony, you need to go." Steve didn't care if the jet was on its way back. Twenty minutes could mean anything for Aspen.

"Don't you see? She sent it back on purpose so we could all follow. She has a plan." Tony sounded confident, but Steve stared at him, his frustration very close to the surface.

"All I see is that she needs our help and we're just standing here discussing it," he said, taking a step toward Tony.

"Fine, I'll go if it makes you happy. But you get the team together and follow in the Avenjet after it arrives. Jarvis?" Tony's Iron Man suit emerged from his lab, the different pieces fitting to his body with quick precision. "Follow her signal," he said, "but don't engage until we understand the situation." He flew off before Steve could argue, swooping low over the landing platform where the Avenjet would, hopefully, soon be landing and disappearing into the New York skyline.

"I hate it when he does that," Clint said.

"He's right though. Aspen might have a plan. I'm just not willing to take a risk if she doesn't." Steve moved toward his room. "Suit up and meet back at the Quinjet pad."

Clint nodded, moving toward the elevator. "Jarvis, can you make sure Natasha, Bruce, and Thor know what's happening?" he asked the AI.

" _Of course, sir_ ," Jarvis responded.

Steve changed into his suit quickly, strapping his shield to his back. His heart was beating quickly and he couldn't seem to grasp the cool calm he usually felt right before going into a mission. This was different. When Aspen's life might be on the line, there was no calming down. Clint was leaning against the exterior of the Avenjet when Steve arrived back downstairs.

"Look who just got here," he said. "Nat and Thor are already onboard. Bruce opted to stay behind. I think he's still a little shaken from being locked in Tony's cell. He's afraid he'll turn and get someone hurt."

"That wasn't his fault," Steve said as they walked up the ramp into the jet.

"We all agree, but he's still hesitant to see the Hulk as a hero." Clint took his seat in the pilot's chair. Natasha was already in the copilot seat. Steve sat across from Thor.

" _Jet make it back okay?_ "Tony's voice came in on their comms.

"Just like you said it would," Clint said, turning the engines on and taking off away from the tower. Night had fallen and the cloaking devices weren't necessary. "What's the status on Aspen?"

" _I've tracked her to Trenton and she's in a truck heading west. I've scanned and found four people in the truck. Aspen's in the back. I'd say she's their prisoner but I know she's too smart to get taken. I can only think she meant to get taken. Maybe she's trying to infiltrate them._ "

"By becoming their prisoner?" Clint said, sounding indignant. "Who's bright idea was that?"

" _Not mine! I just said she should track down some old contacts_ ," Tony defended. " _This is all her_."

"She knows what she's doing," Natasha said, sounding calm and confident.

"I sure hope you're right," Steve said softly. "Don't lose track of her, Tony."

" _I won't. I'll go in if anything looks bad_ ," he promised.

"ETA?" Steve asked Clint.

"Half an hour. They're moving, but we're moving faster. We'll get to her."

"I just hope she knows what she's getting herself into," Steve said. "Hydra doesn't treat their prisoners well if that's who took her."

"I doubt Aspen plans on staying a prisoner for long," Natasha assured him. "Sometimes to infiltrate someone like Hydra you have to weaken yourself. It doesn't mean you lose control of the situation though. She can read every thought and predict every move of these people. She'll know if she needs to get out and when before we do."

…

Aspen woke up when the truck she was being transported in hit a pothole in the road. Her head jolted painfully against the metal bottom she had been laid on sending it into a pulsing wave of pain. She pushed aside the pain and sat up. Her phone and knives had been taken from her including the ones she had hid in her boots. She wasn't worried though. She was, however, surprised to find she wasn't alone in the back of the truck. She crawled over to an unconscious body that had rolled toward the back of the truck, turning him over. It was Andy Harrick. Aspen swallowed back her guilt. He wasn't supposed to get caught too. She made a mental note to get him out of this mess before scanning the front of the truck. The man who had knocked her out was sitting in the passenger seat and another man was driving. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since she'd been knocked out, but a moment later the truck slowed, turning onto a dirt road. It jolted her around, and she grabbed onto one of the metal benches that lined the walls of the truck. Harrick rolled around toward the end of the truck, and she winced when his head struck the side of the van. He was going to have a killer headache when he woke up.

The van pulled to a stop and Aspen stood, readying herself for anything. She had no way of knowing if the Avengers were on their way but she trusted that they were. They wouldn't let her down, and she knew Steve was probably nearly beside himself with worry. She felt bad for doing that to him, but she felt like she was close to the truth, close to whatever bit of intel they needed to get them to Strucker.

The doors to the van opened abruptly, and Aspen was blinded against the strong beams of light aimed at her face. "Out," came the commanding voice of the man who'd taken her captive. Aspen glowered at him but obeyed, hopping out of the truck onto the hard turf. Two men grabbed Harrick and dragged him out. Aspen was roughly shoved toward a large bunker-like facility. Armed guards stood on either side of the entrance. Aspen's eyes and senses took in everything as she was steered inside. She was taken deep into the facility until they reached a plain white door. Aspen's instincts told her she didn't want to know what was behind that door, but she forced herself to walk into it.

It was a plain white room with an equally white chair set in the center of the room and another against the wall. The man thrust Aspen into one chair. Harrick was dragged away to another room, still unconcious. "Wait here," the man told Aspen. She was left alone in the white room somehow feeling more anxious than when she'd woken up in the back of the Hydra van. There was something about the stark whiteness of the room that reminded her of Doctor Rinehart and her experiments. She'd been in a room similar to this in Canada where the doctor had taken her to perform experiments on her. Something about the clinical white made her want to bolt more than being surrounded by Hydra in their compound. There was a sound of a gunshot, and Aspen jumped, looking around. Silence followed.

When the door opened a moment later, she expected to see Doctor Rinehart standing there, scalpel in hand. It was just another Hydra thug, however, hoping to intimidate her into giving up her intel. He dragged the second chair over to her, the sound of the legs grating against the floor as unpleasant as fingernails against a chalkboard. Aspen didn't blink. She sized up the man in front of her instead. He was probably in his forties, dressed crisply, face tooled to be expressionless. He wasn't nervous. None of them had figured out who she was yet. Maybe there was something to be said for anonymity.

"Hello," he said. "Mathew said you wanted to talk to Hydra's man on top. Around here, I hold that title. Now the only reason I'm wasting my time talking to you is that you have information we need." Aspen smiled smugly at him. "Sophia Carrington had something we wanted but she backed out of the deal. You said you know where she is. I'll tell you what's going to happen. You're going to tell me and if it turns out you're lying, I'm going to put this knife through your eyes." He pulled a pocketknife out of his slacks, flipping out the blade. He rose, slowly, and walked behind Aspen's chair. She felt the blade tickle the back of her neck.

"Okay," she said. "A smuggler might be in the job for the money, but I can't very well collect on jobs if I'm dead."

The man circled around and sat down again. Aspen concentrated her powers on the door and heard the lock click into place. "I'm listening."

"I have a better idea," Aspen said, crossing her legs. "Why don't you answer some of my questions first?"

"You think this is a game?" he asked. "Daddy Danners not teach you who Hydra is and what we can do?"

"Oh I know a lot about Hydra. In fact, we've gotten quite close the last few months as I've been helping take down their bases." She watched his brow furrow with confusion. It was time for her to play. She held out her hand and his knife leapt into it. He tried to stand, but she forced him down, keeping him in place on the white chair.

"What are you doing?" he asked, a hint of panic in his voice. He hadn't been expecting this.

"Interrogating you. I thought that would have been obvious. You see the problem with all you Hydra thugs is that you're all the same. You think you can just intimidate people into giving you answers but you don't realize that you're not at the top of the food chain." She strode around his chair, slowly, while he struggled. Then she sat back down, leaning forward. "Now then, what I'd really like to know is the location of Baron von Strucker."

"I'll tell you nothing."

"Maybe not if I ask politely, but I don't ask Hydra politely." She leaned forward, focusing her power on his mind. Normally she would never have gone into his mind the way she was about to, but he was Hydra and they were monsters. He'd chosen this path and now he would pay the consequences. She was desperate and so before she could change her mind, she plunged into his. She pulled and tugged until she put an illusion of pain in his mind. He cried out. He would feel as if thousands of tiny knives were piercing his flesh. Aspen bit back her hesitance. Torture was not something she did. In fact, she'd never done it before, but she was desperate for answers, and she was sure this man held them. She wasn't physically hurting him, but she knew better than anyone that physical pain was not the most damaging kind.

"Let's try that again." She grabbed him by the hair and tugged his head up. Sweat dripped down his temples. "Where is Strucker?"

"You…will…never…find…him," the man gritted out.

"I will if it's the last thing I do," she said. She tugged at his mind again. Pain alone would not be enough to get him to talk perhaps. She could dig into his mind, extract the information, but she'd sworn never to do that again. _He would kill you given the chance. He wanted to stab out your eyes_ , a voice in her head told her. She knew she shouldn't listen, but the Avengers could be here at any moment and her window was closing. They'd help her take down the base, but she was the only one who could get this man to talk and it might help if he thought there was a small chance he might get away after.

"I can reach straight inside that sick head of yours and take the answers out, but I'm giving you the chance to tell me instead," she said.

Instead of answering, he chuckled. "I know who you are now. One of that ragtag group that calls themselves heroes. They will never defeat Hydra. They don't have what it takes."

"And what's that?" Aspen asked.

"The guts to do whatever it takes," he told her, "no matter the cost to their own reputations and morals."

"Well they're not here right now. It's just you and me, and right now I'm not feeling particularly patient," she said.

"You're weak like the rest of them," he spat at her. "Your words are empty threats. You don't frighten me. You don't intimidate me. Nothing you can do will get me to tell you anything."

"Do you want to put that to the test?" Aspen asked. "Fine." She dove in before she could second-guess herself. It had been a long time since she'd entered someone's mind like this. She had, briefly, when Bucky had attacked her during the Hydra takeover the year before, but he had still been the Winter Soldier then and he was about to strangle her. Her mental defenses had been her last hope. Now she felt no qualms about ripping into this man's mind. He cried out in pain. It hurt her too, but not as badly as before. She'd grown so much stronger now. She dove into his mind, skimming past the information and memories she didn't want to see. It was like swimming in blood, thick and congealed, but she choked her way forward, going none too gently. Deeper and deeper, and this time it didn't affect her like it first had all those years ago. This time she was in control.

Gunshots outside of the room distracted her for a moment, and she had to scrabble to keep her hold on the man's mind. She'd passed his name over, not wishing to give an identity to this faceless Hydra thug. They were all the same, she told herself. The shouts that followed the gunshots made it clear the Avengers had found her. She didn't have much time. Guilt twisted at her when she thought of Steve. He wouldn't condone what she was doing, but if they didn't find out where Strucker was now, she feared it might be too late. A strong instinct urged her on. She shut out the sounds of fighting outside the room and kept diving deeper into the Hydra thug's mind.

Finally she saw something. An image clear as a photograph appeared. A castle. It was a large castle set high on a rocky hill. It looked old, but there were distinct signs of habitation. A Hydra base? She went deeper. A memory arose, playing out before her like a movie clip. There were protestors in the streets below the castle. They shouted and waved about signs. Most were in a language Aspen didn't recognize. Some were in English though. _End the War!_ some said while others read _Free Sokovia_. A group of men – Hydra? – approached the protestors.

" _We can give you a chance,"_ they said. _"A chance to end this war."_

Some of the people went with the men. They went into the castle where they were never to be seen again. Aspen wasn't focused on the people though. She was focused on the man standing in the hall of the castle, watching the volunteers file past. Baron Strucker stood there clear as day, their quarry finally found.

"Sokovia," Aspen said, releasing the man suddenly. He slumped forward, blood dribbling from his nose. "Strucker is in a country called Sokovia. I told you I'd get the information." She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. His hot blood ran down her hand. "You're weak. You all are. You follow a cause that makes no sense because humanity has no other place for you. You will always be _nothing_." She spat the last word.

An explosion sounded beyond the door, rocking the room. In that moment of distraction, Aspen's concentration slipped. The man dove for the knife, snatching it from her hand and stabbing it straight into her thigh before bolting for the door. Aspen hissed in pain, pulling the knife out. She let it drop to the floor, slick with her blood.

"I don't think so." She forced back the pain and held out a bloody hand. The man stopped short, unable to move. Men were running down the hall, guns in hand. Another explosion rocked the building, but Aspen's concentration did not waver this time.

"I should have taken your tongue instead," the man said. "Or your head. Stupid bitch."

"Your insults do nothing," Aspen said. "Right now I'm worried about something different. You know Strucker has been compromised. I can't let you go running to tell him." Her blood was pounding, her leg throbbing though she forced the pain aside. _Do it. Do it_ now _,_ a voice urged her, reckless and loud in her ears.

"You're no match for him even with the Avengers," the man said. "You'll all die and the world will be rid of your filth. What will your country do when Strucker cuts off the head of the captain they worship?"

That tipped Aspen overboard. She could have taken him hostage, could have knocked him out and waited for her team to get there. She didn't. There was a crunching of bone, and he fell to the floor, neck twisted at an awkward angle. She stared down at his body for a long time until she heard her name being called. Warm hands touched her face.

"You're bleeding." Steve's voice brought her back, and she lifted her eyes from the body of the man she had killed to meet Steve's eyes. They were so blue and so concerned that she let herself fall into them.

"I'm okay," she said automatically. "It's not bad."

"Let's get out of here," Steve said, placing a hand on her back.

"Wait, Harrick was here, the smuggler. I promised he'd get away from Hydra." She opened the door to the room next to the one she'd been brought to and stopped short. Harrick sat in a white chair in a white room. The only other color was the red from the blood that dripped from the single gun wound in his head. It pooled on the floor turning the white tiles red, and Aspen couldn't take her eyes off of it. Steve finally drew her away, shutting the door.

"There was nothing you could have done," he told her softly.

She could have left him alone. She could have never come to New Jersey. It was her fault he was dead.

She didn't take in much of the Hydra base as Steve led her out. She saw her teammates looking at her with worried expressions, but she didn't speak. She'd almost forgotten her most important piece of intel until they were all aboard the Avenjet leaving behind the destruction of the Hydra base. She didn't bother to ask what had happened to the rest of the Hydra agents.

"Sokovia," she said, breaking the silence. "Strucker is in Sokovia."

No one asked how she knew this. Steve had gotten a medical kit out and was cleaning the wound on her thigh and wrapping it. His hands were gentle as he knelt at her feet, taking care of her when she could still hear the sound of the man's neck breaking. Any pain she now felt was inside her head rather than physical. She'd done that to herself.

"I haven't heard of Sokovia," Tony said from the pilot's seat. "Jarvis?"

" _Sokovia is a European country between Austria and the Czech Republic._ _Bringing up newsfeeds._ " The screen at the front of the jet showed discord and riots and chaos.

"Not a peaceful vacation destination then," Tony said.

"He's there. In a castle," Aspen said. Tony looked back at her, brow furrowed. She could tell he was blaming himself for sending her on this mission even if she'd gotten the intel they needed. _At what cost?_ they were all wondering. Aspen wasn't sure yet.


	23. Pre-Mission

**Author's Note:** So I don't have internet in my apartment yet... It's taking forever to get it set up and I've had to jump through a million loopholes... Anyway, I can get online at work, but not very often. Hopefully I can get it set up at home soon. I'm also kind of catching up posting to my writing, so hopefully I can speed up my writing too. They're still at Tony's party and Civil War comes out this Friday! I got my tickets. I'm so excited. I can't even. I think I'm basically settled in my apartment now so hopefully I can settle into a routine and finish writing Age of Ultron so I can get into Civil War! Thanks as always for reading!

* * *

 **21 – Pre-Mission – April 26, 2015**

"Sokovia," Tony said, pulling the information from the screen of his tablet and flicking into the middle of the room for the team to look at. "It's a country that has been involved in war for a lot of years now. Foreign forces invade the country constantly and there are rioters and protesters in the streets. A good place for Hydra to hide – the country is already chaotic. No one would notice a few Hydra agents slipping in to conduct experiments. Jarvis has run a scan on the area using the same methods we did to find the Tesseract a few years back. He found something."

"The scepter?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, the scepter. Nothing else gives off an energy signal like that."

Aspen's eyes were set on the pictures of Sokovia and videos of rioters, but she wasn't really seeing it. She was sitting in one of the armchairs, her legs pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them. They'd gotten back in the early hours of the morning and agreed that getting a good night's sleep before discussing Sokovia was the best plan. Aspen had allowed Steve to clean her wound again and rebandage it, sitting in silence. He didn't ask what was bothering her. Maybe he already knew. She wasn't ready to talk about it, but yet her mind wouldn't stop replaying out the images of that white room. And she couldn't stop hearing the crack of that man's neck. It didn't matter anymore that he was Hydra, that she hadn't known his name, that he'd most likely put a bullet in Harrick's head. What mattered was that she had crossed a line. She'd become a person she didn't recognize for a few minutes, and that scared her. It wasn't even her powers. Yes, she'd used them to kill the man, but she could have just as easily slit his throat with the knife if she'd wanted to.

"Hey, are you okay?" Steve's soft voice interrupted her thoughts, and she turned to him. She could see the worry in his eyes and imagined it turning to horror by what she'd done. It was one thing to kill in battle. She knew the man would have killed her if given the chance, but the _way_ she'd killed him. It wasn't guilt she was feeling either. It was this sort of creeping horror that came with becoming someone she didn't recognize.

"No," she said, the truth slipping out before she could stop it. She couldn't lie to him.

He glanced at the others who were already in a deep conversation about how to mount the attack on Strucker's castle and when they should go. "Come with me," Steve said, holding out a hand. Aspen hesitated, but then placed her hand in his. "We'll be right back," Steve said.

The others watched them go and, before Aspen was out of hearing range, she heard Clint say, "Something happened in that Hydra base…"

"We don't know what she went through. Leave it," Natasha said.

Steve pulled Aspen into the elevator and they rode up silently. To her surprise, they went to the very top, coming out onto the roof. Pepper had planted a garden here making it a surprisingly peaceful place. Aspen didn't know why, but she rarely came up here. Maybe she thought the best view belonged to Pepper and Tony. Now she walked over to the edge, leaning against the wall and letting the breeze tug at her hair. The traffic was a swarm of ants below. She could hear distant honks and sometimes the shout of a hasty New Yorker.

"Something happened back there," Steve said. He didn't press her, didn't ask questions, just stood next to her and waited.

"I killed a man," Aspen said finally.

"The one you were staring down at when I found you?" He had already known.

She couldn't look at him when she said, "He's the one I got the intel from. He wouldn't tell me so I went inside his mind and took it from him. But before that…I tortured him. I made him believe he was feeling an infinite amount of pain. He was going to warn Strucker if he got away… I broke his neck." It sounded even more horrible to her when she said it aloud as if she'd been expecting it to sound reasonable when she finally voiced what she'd done. "I lost control. Not of my powers but of myself. I forgot who I was and that we don't kill people like that."

"He would have killed you."

"But he wasn't fighting me at the time. He had his back turned to me." It was a coward killing. She couldn't even face him when she did it.

"Aspen, Hydra is a curse on this world. No, we don't want to stoop to their levels, but sometimes in a war you have to do things that don't make you feel like a good person. But you'll never be like them even if you slipped up. We could have taken him in for questioning, kept him a prisoner, but we've got a bigger focus. Strucker has the scepter and that could mean a lot more deaths if we don't put a stop to it. He might not have declared open war, but the second he took that scepter, he started a war with us. We're about to go into Sokovia and take that scepter from him. People might die. But if we continue to let Hydra have its way, even more innocent people will die. Hydra isn't innocent – they chose to work for evil rather than good. Are you prepared to go in swinging? We need you. The world needs you. You're not a bad person for what you did. I know you're better than that, but none of us are perfect. We slip up, we let our emotions get the better of us, we let anger make our decisions for us. But that's not who we are. It's not who _you_ are. I know you." He took her chin in his hand, gently turning her head so she'd look at him. "And you're a _good_ person," he said.

Aspen felt a sob lodging in her throat, but she swallowed it back down, nodding. "I thought you would be disgusted by what I'd done."

"You know me better than that. That's how _you_ feel about what you did. You need to forgive yourself and move forward."

"Okay," she said quietly.

"That didn't sound very convincing."

"Okay," she said louder. "I forgive myself. I did what was necessary."

"Just don't ever let the killing mean nothing to you," Steve warned. "Hydra doesn't believe in humanity, but we do."

"It's funny how even though he was Hydra. Even though he stuck a knife in my leg and threatened to cut out my eyes, I still know what I did was wrong. Not so much the killing but the coldness of it."

"It's hard to feel passion for Hydra, but they are people too, hard as it is to believe," Steve agreed.

"I almost feel sorry for them," Aspen said thoughtfully. "To live with so much hate."

"It's something I'll never understand," Steve agreed. "I'm just glad we don't have to be like them."

"Me too."

"Ready to get back to tactical planning?" Steve asked, turning away from the view and holding out an arm for her. She took a deep breath and nodded, taking his arm.

The others looked up when they returned, everyone smiling at her like they wanted her to know they still loved her. Something inside Aspen swelled to realize they wouldn't judge her, wouldn't call her a monster. They understood. Every one of them had made hard decisions over the course of their lives, hard choices, wrong choices.

"So when are we storming this brick monstrosity?" Aspen asked, her voice coming out strong.

Tony smiled at her. "How does Wednesday sound?"

…

They'd been anticipating this for so long that it felt like an eternity to wait three days, but planning was essential. This mission needed to go smoothly if they wanted the scepter back in their hands. It felt good to have something to focus on. In the days following their breakthrough, Aspen trained harder than ever. When she wasn't going over plans and maps of Sokovia with her team, she was in the training room alone or with Steve.

"Are you nervous?" he asked, watching her punch at one of the punching bags strung from the ceiling. Tonight they would head to the European country and begin their assault in the morning. After a briefing at breakfast, Tony had suggested they try to rest in the afternoon so they would be prepared for that night. Only Clint had taken his suggestion, passing out right on the couch. Tony was making last minute adjustments to his armor. Bruce had been nervously puttering in the lab, and Natasha had disappeared saying something about last minute tactics. Thor had been the most impatient, wanting to leave immediately after they discovered the location of the scepter, but Tony and Steve had both agreed that rushing in wasn't the best course of action.

Aspen paused her punching, considering how she felt about the mission. "More relieved that we're finally going in for the prize. It's been too long that we've been chasing this. I want this to be over, and I believe our team can get that scepter tomorrow. Strucker might know who we are, but he doesn't know just what we can do. He's about to find out."

"I think you should officiate the mission with a rousing speech like that tonight," Steve told her with a smile.

"Speaking of tonight, maybe we should try to nap for awhile. I doubt I could fall asleep, but maybe we could just lay there and talk." She began unwrapping her fists.

Steve nodded. "I don't think I could fall asleep either. I never can sleep before a mission. It was the same in the war."

"Doesn't matter that we've done this before. There are always those pre-mission jitters."

"It keeps us sharp. Relax too much and you get overconfident and slip up."

It was noon, so they had several hours before they would leave. Aspen showered quickly before changing into sweats and a soft T-shirt. She stretched out on the bed, curling into Steve's outstretched arm. He smelled like soap and familiarity, and she set her head on his chest, stretching her arm over his stomach.

"I love moments like these," she said. "It feels like just you and me with no world out there waiting to throw its next problem our way."

Steve was quiet for a moment. She could feel him breathing, the slow steady rise of his chest. His heart was steady and strong, and she closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound. "Do you ever want a life away from this?" he asked. "I know we go back and forth about being normal, but what if we walked away one day?"

"I don't know if I could walk away," she said. "It would feel too much like abandonment. Do you want to walk away?"

"No…" He hesitated. "Maybe not so much walk away…"

"Maybe after we get the scepter we could take some time off. Get away from the Tower and New York and Tony's jokes. Just you and me. We could go anywhere."

"I'd like that." His tone made her think he had something else he wanted to say but, whatever it was, he kept it to himself. "I guess I've just been thinking a lot about what your mom said."

"What did she say?"

"Talking about the future…about our future." He paused, and she could tell he was nervous about something by the tone of his voice.

"Please don't tell me this is about kids because I am not ready for that. Not for a long, long, _long_ time," Aspen enunciated.

"No, it's not that. I mean, not right now. Not for a long time. I just want you to know that whatever future I have, you're in it. However this life plays out, it's always going to include you." He reached his arm around her, holding her closer as if she was about to slip away.

"Good because I don't plan on going anywhere," she told him, leaning up and kissing him. She cupped his cheek in her hand, the outline of his jaw firm against her palm. His fingers tangled in her damp hair. There was nothing hurried about the kiss, nothing desperate, but it filled Aspen with everything she could ever need.

…

There was a knock on the door at quarter to six. Aspen woke up not realizing she'd fallen asleep. Steve was still awake, but he waited for her to stir before getting up to answer the door. "Sorry to bother you." It was Tony's voice. "I have something for Aspen."

Aspen pulled on a sweater and shoved her feet in some slippers before moving to greet Tony.

"So before you suit up, I have something I need to show you," Tony said to her, moving aside and nodding toward the door. "It will only take a second."

"Okay." She followed him down to the lab where he walked over to one of his worktables. A blanket was laid across the table so she couldn't see what was under it.

"Don't be mad. I know you said you didn't want a suit, but I thought since we were going into a rather significant mission, you should have something updated and official." He pulled the blanket off, and Aspen was looking down at her new uniform. It was very similar to Natasha's only with two pieces instead of one suit. The top half zipped up and had a crisp collar that made it look professional. The fabric was soft, but she could feel the reinforced material it was built with. It was a dark shade of navy blue with deep red stripes down the sides and a black utility belt.

"I know you didn't want to look like a Captain America sidekick, so I just added these," Tony said, holding up the elbows of the suit. Black stars stretched across them, a stretchy material that wouldn't hinder her arm movements. It was subtle but also made a statement. She was an Avenger. "I also whipped up these babies." He held out two cuffs similar to what Natasha wore around her wrists with her Widow Bites. "Mini darts," he said.

Aspen realized she was smiling as she took the cuffs to examine it. "You've been working on this for me?" she asked. She'd had no idea.

"Do you hate it?" He looked genuinely worried.

"I love it." She set the cuff down and put her arms around him. He patted her on the back a little awkwardly, unused to her random displays of affection. "You can be so thoughtful sometimes."

"Don't start crying now," Tony told her.

Aspen laughed, pulling away. "I'll save my tears until after the mission."

"Then suit up." Tony tossed the uniform to her and then handed her the cuffs and belt. He gave her a wink before she left the lab.

When she returned to her and Steve's apartment, she wouldn't let him see the uniform until she changed into it, shutting herself into the bathroom while he put his own suit on. The material fit to her body perfectly, the flexible material soft and strong. The red stripes and black stars made a subtle statement, but she found she rather liked them. She strapped the belt on, finding it equipped with anything she could ever need in a mission. The cuffs went on last, sliding perfectly around her wrists and locking into place over the sleeves. After she laced on her boots and pulled on her fingerless gloves, she looked at herself in the full-length mirror. She looked like an Avenger. She scraped her hair back into a ponytail and opened the door. Steve was already dressed, his helmet dangling from his hand. He turned to look at her, eyes widening.

"You look amazing," he said, coming forward to inspect the uniform. "Do you like it?" he asked, his eyes moving to hers.

"I do. It's perfect."

He smiled, touching one of the stars on the elbow. "I think so too. That was thoughtful of Tony."

"He definitely has his moments." Aspen walked over to where Steve's shield rested against the dresser. She handed it to him. "Ready to get that scepter back and take down Strucker?" she asked.

"Ready."

When they entered the lounge, Clint whistled at Aspen. "Nice suit," he said. "Lady America." Aspen stuck her tongue out at him and focused on Tony. Tony turned to Steve, however.

"Captain," he said, offering the floor to him.

Steve stepped forward. "We're going to fly in under cover of darkness. We land in Austria and drive from there. It's a more subtle attack. They'll know we're there when we start the attack, but that's never stopped us before. Strucker has to know we'd be coming for him eventually. We hit them fast and hard. It's vital that we get into the castle as quickly as we can. That's where the scepter will be and that's our goal. We take Strucker into custody. Tony, you've got the castle. You get us in while we take down the agents that get in the way. If there's security, find a way to shut it down. We can do this. It's just like any other mission only this is the one we've been waiting for."

"Let's do this." Clint slid his bow into place with his quiver and they all headed toward the jet.

Aspen felt a swoosh of excitement in her stomach when the jet took off, carrying them away from the Tower and toward the war-ridden country of Sokovia. It would be a long flight, so she put in her headphones and leaned back against the seat. She found dwelling too much on a mission as important as this beforehand would only make her nervous, so she tried to put it out of her mind. Bruce was looking nervous across from her, wringing his hands unconsciously. This was the big mission, the one they'd been working toward for a long time. Tony had insisted they all go. "No one expects you to turn green unless _you_ want to," he'd told Bruce. "No pressure."

Aspen was pretty sure they were all feeling the pressure of the mission though. Even Clint was looking antsy, tapping his fingers along his knee. Natasha was sitting still, her face the essence of calm, but she always looked that way. Aspen had never delved into any of her teammates' minds – it was something she would never do – but it didn't take psychic abilities for her to read them though. She'd been around all of them long enough to pick up on the little things they did when they were anxious. Clint got antsy before missions as if his fingers couldn't wait to pull back the bowstring and start shooting. Bruce showed his worrying the most but he was always more comfortable in the lab than on a mission. Tony was cool under pressure, but he tended to work up his ego a little more before a big mission as if he needed self-assurance despite his unbeatable armor. Steve's worry was usually in his eyes, always so expressive with emotion. It was part of what made their team human – they got nervous before missions like a student might get nervous before a big test. Well, most of them. Natasha still looked completely calm and Thor didn't find puny humans to be intimidating in the least. He was anxious to get the scepter back though. It had been in human hands for too long. Of course Thor returning the scepter to Asgard brought up a whole array of problems, Aspen had realized. A knot of anxiety twisted at her stomach. Would taking the scepter back to Asgard be as good as placing it straight back into Loki's hands? She knew she should tell Thor what she knew, but the time for telling the truth without serious consequences had long passed. She wasn't afraid of her teammates' anger, but she was afraid of losing Thor's friendship. She was also afraid of becoming an outcast like she had the first time she'd kept the truth to protect Loki. She really didn't want her team to consider her naïve and overly trusting. She knew she had a soft spot when it came to the Asgardian trickster, but she couldn't seem to get over it, couldn't seem to hand him over to Thor or to the Asgardian dungeons. She might not agree with his methods, but she was the only person who saw a side to him that had the potential to be a great king. His greatest fault and his greatest trait was that he cared too much.

In the end, she kept her mouth shut. She still had time. They didn't have the scepter yet. She realized a part of her had been relieved that their quest to retrieve the scepter had taken so long – it had waylaid the time when she would need to tell Thor the truth.

She must have fallen asleep at some point because suddenly someone was nudging her and the jet was gently losing altitude. She'd been having a strange dream where she'd been taken to Asgard and locked up in Loki's old cell as punishment for keeping quiet about him. She shook that unsettling thought from her head and sat up. Steve's hand was on her shoulder, his fingerless gloves in place. He'd strapped his helmet on too. Aspen pulled her headphones out of her ears and dropped her phone on the seat next to her. Dawn was coming on fast as they dipped down toward their destination. Aspen saw trees and snow-dappled ground as the jet touched down for a gentle landing, hidden amongst the trees in a clearing just large enough for it to rest. As Tony lowered the ramp at the back of the jet, Aspen felt a blast of cold air. Steve's hand was warm on her shoulder, and she focused on that.

"All right people, look alive," Tony said, getting up from the pilot's seat. Everyone else looked wide-awake, and Aspen wondered if she was the only one who had fallen asleep on the flight. She pushed aside the lingering grogginess and stood. Bruce hesitated, and Aspen felt bad that he was always lingering on the outskirts of the team, wanting to help but at the same time not wanting to turn green. He was a scientist, not a soldier, and Aspen hoped he knew none of them considered him any less of a member for it. "If things get hairy, I'm going to call for a 'code green'," Tony told Bruce.

"Okay," Bruce said, sounding doubtful.

Tony patted him on the shoulder. "You've got this, big guy."

Natasha and Clint were already heading down the ramp, side-by-side. They fell into a synchronized readiness whenever they went on missions together like an extension of one another. Aspen hoped she and Steve were the same. She never felt as put together as Clint or Natasha or Steve, but she worked well with them after all they'd been through together. She followed them down the ramp and onto the snowy ground, her boots crunching ever so slightly. It was quiet here as if even the birds knew Hydra had poisoned the land with its presence. Steve stopped beside her, and she could feel his warm arm brushing hers as if to remind her he was right there. She tipped her head back to look up at him, but his eyes were straight ahead. She wondered if he could see the Hydra base ahead, his keen eyes picking up on things hers couldn't.

Tony's ironclad feet made a little more noise coming down the ramp, and Aspen turned to see that he'd suited up in his new armor. It was polished red with the bits of gold – his usual color scheme. He'd met Aspen's suggestion that he get seasonal colored armor with an eyebrow lift. Thor joined him, his hammer clenched tightly in his hand. His blonde hair was neatly tied back, and he looked ready for anything. Aspen could tell he was eager to reclaim the scepter. His blue eyes were set ahead, and he looked impatient to get going.

"They're just over that rise," Tony said, his voice muffled by the armor. "They're not aware of us yet, but they will be."

"Perhaps they will offer us their surrender," Thor suggested.

"And deprive you of the fight? That would be just rude," Clint said, giving Thor a grin.

"We go in shooting," Tony said. "Hit em' hard and make your way to the castle as quickly as you can. We don't want to scepter going anywhere."

They moved in unison, Thor and Tony staying on foot as they reached the ridge that blocked the Hydra base from view. Here the trees diverged, and Aspen found herself staring at their target. The castle stood upon a rocky hill, a king above its kingdom. Down below there was a horde of Hydra soldiers standing between them and the castle.

"See that truck?" Clint asked, nudging Natasha lightly with his shoulder. She nodded with a smile.

"Good idea."

"What are you two plotting?" Tony asked.

"We're gonna steal that truck," Clint said, motioning toward a utility vehicle parked down below. Several Hydra soldiers surrounded it. There were a few tanks too.

"There's a nice bike down there too," Natasha said, turning to Steve. She lifted an eyebrow. "I know you know how to steal a car."

"I don't feel so bad stealing from Hydra," Steve said lightly.

"Okay, so we've got cars and bikes covered. I need something dramatic… Does Hydra have horses? I could ride in on a white stallion and outclass you all," Aspen said.

"You outclass us all anyway," Clint told her. "You can hitch a ride with Nat and me."

"Gee thanks."

"Are we going to stand here talking all day or are we going to battle these men?" Thor asked. He looked ready to take off and start the fight without them.

"You're right. Let's get in there and give them hell," Tony said. With that, he and Thor took to the sky. Clint, Natasha, Aspen, and Steve followed on foot and the battle with Hydra began.


	24. Taking the Castle

**Author's Note:** So I was behind on writing but that is no longer true. I've just been writing like crazy lately. And rewatching Captain America waiting for my next chance to see Civil War again (Friday?) because it was AMAZING! I went to go see it opening night with my best friend and we were first in line decked out in our Cap stuff. It was just fantastic. Although I still think there were too many other characters and too many scenes that had nothing to do with Captain America...

* * *

 **22 – Taking the Castle – April 29, 2015**

Aspen felt the pulse of battle in her veins as they came over the ridge. Natasha and Clint made for the utility vehicle while she and Steve fought the Hydra soldiers that came at them together. Steve's fluid motions with the shield sent several soldiers flying. Aspen sent out a surge of power that lifted several of the men off their feet and into the trees behind them. It was satisfying to see that the Hydra soldiers knew exactly who they were. Aspen heard mutterings in a language she didn't understand, but the word _Avengers_ was being passed around like a wildfire. Instead of running, they stood and fought. Aspen could almost taste the eagerness in the air. They'd finally reached the hornet's nest. It wasn't going to be easy getting to the castle, but Aspen had no doubt they could do it.

"Watch out!" Aspen felt arms grasp her, and an explosion sent snow flying inches from where she had been standing. Steve was gripping her tightly. "Thanks." She saw that several of the Hydra soldiers had gotten into the tanks. There were also some heavy artillery surrounding them – guns similar to what they'd seen in Sudan. She and Steve scattered as the guns started firing at them. Aspen sent out a wave of energy under the earth that cracked one gun down the middle. It was too hard to fight with all the firing. Aspen felt a fist graze her head, setting her ears ringing. She lashed out with her feet, bringing the attacking soldier down, and striking out at his head to knock him unconscious.

"Tony, we're not going to get far if they keep firing these laser guns at us," Aspen hissed into her comm, rolling out of the way as another of the guns fired at her. Natasha and Clint had taken cover behind the vehicle they were attempting to commandeer, firing arrows and guns. Steve was using his shield to block the rays being shot at him. One of them bounced off the vibranium and hit a tank. It exploded in a fiery blast that Aspen could feel on her face. Tony was trying to draw the firing to the sky but without much luck. Thor was faring similarly, using Mjolnir to block the blasts.

" _You're right. This is going nowhere fast. Bruce, we're gonna have to call in a 'Code Green', buddy. We need the heavy hitter,_ " Tony replied.

There was silence for a moment and then, "Okay." Bruce sounded resigned, and Aspen felt a stab of sympathy, but a moment later there was a terrific roar that shook the woods as the Hulk came bursting into the clearing, landing on the guns and ripping them from their mountings. He threw them at one of the tanks. The others immediately began fighting off the soldiers again. Clint and Natasha got into the utility vehicle, Natasha behind the wheel and Clint up top, bow notched and ready. Steve grabbed the motorcycle, revving the engine and taking off toward the castle, taking down several soldiers with his shield as he went. Aspen leapt onto the moving vehicle as Natasha went past, and Clint pulled her up next to him. Thor and Tony kept to the sky while the Hulk forged a path for them.

"Just like New York all over again!" Clint said with a grin.

"Something like that." Aspen used her powers to thrust aside any soldiers that got close while Clint fired off arrows and Natasha concentrated on driving. They moved much faster now that they'd made a dent in the Hydra soldiers and weapons. Having the Hulk barrel through the front lines was a big help, and Aspen saw the castle getting closer and closer. Steve was taking out soldiers with both shield and motorcycle and Hulk lifted a tank that got too close over his head, throwing it with all his might. Aspen sent out a surge at one of the watchtowers where several Hydra soldiers were firing from, and the beams holding it splintered sending the entire structure down.

"Show off," Clint said, his lips cocking up in a smile. They reached a ridge near the castle and Natasha turned the vehicle.

"Time to get out," she said. As one, they leapt from the car, Steve shooting past on his stolen motorcycle, Tony and Thor flying past, and Hulk shaking the ground with his footsteps. They landed in sync like individual pieces to the same mechanism, well oiled and perfectly attuned to each other. There were several more lookout towers here, and Thor flew up, taking out the Hydra agents that fired from up above. Aspen stuck with Clint and Natasha while Tony shot off toward the castle.

" _Shit!_ " came Tony's voice a moment later.

" _Language_ ," Steve said in reply, their voices coming in clearly on the comms. Aspen snorted.

"Gee Tony, wash that mouth out with soap," she scolded.

" _Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?_ " Steve asked the AI.

" _The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other base we've taken,"_ Jarvis related back to them.

" _Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it_ ," Thor said. " _At last_ ," he added, echoing a sentiment they all felt.

"We didn't come all this way to not get the keys to the castle," Aspen said. "Tony, can you find a way in?" She could sense the power radiating off of the building now, a signature that was alien and yet so familiar. She didn't think her own powers could break it down, but she had been wrong before. Before she had a chance to even consider it, three Hydra soldiers came running at her. She stopped them short and sent them flying across the clearing. They landed in a heap. Natasha was taking down a group of men to her right, her acrobatic skills putting Aspen in awe as always.

"At long last is lasting a little too long," Natasha said. Strucker certainly had mounted his defense. Even if the soldiers hadn't known the Avengers were coming, they were prepared. Aspen wasn't discouraged though. Their team was working together smoother than ever, and their target was in sight. She moved toward Clint who was using a tree to shield himself from a bunker that held an automatic gun. He shot one of his explosion arrows and the bunker exploded in a puff of smoke and snow.

"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise," Clint said.

"Ah, well, Strucker doesn't seem like the type to appreciate surprises anyway," Aspen said.

" _Wait, a minute_ ," Tony's voice said on the comm. " _No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?_ "

" _I know_ ," Steve said, sounding disgruntled. Aspen saw his motorcycle appear to her left, heading straight toward an oncoming tank. He hit the brakes hard, swinging the motorcycle straight over his head and at the tank. It hit straight on, flipping the tank upside-down. " _It just slipped out_."

"Wait, no one is going to deal with the fact that Steve just threw a freaking motorcycle over his head?" Aspen asked indignantly.

"That's what we like to call a Wednesday," Clint said, but even he sounded a little impressed. "I'm going to go take out that other bunker," he told her as firing started up again. He slid off through the trees. Aspen covered his back, following behind him in case any Hydra soldiers tried to distract him from his target. He took aim and fired, but there was no following explosion. He ducked back behind the tree. Aspen sent him a questioning look. He looked back at the bunker and then notched his bow so quickly his hands were a blur. He aimed and fired, but something hit him, sending him flying. He fell to the ground with a grunt. Aspen made to move toward him, alarmed, but something brushed against her, pushing her back a few steps. She raised an energy shield around her. As Clint got to his knees, a boy appeared out of nowhere. His white hair was an unruly mop on his head, and his lips were raised in a smirk as he looked down at Clint.

"You didn't see that coming?" he asked in a heavily accented voice. Clint got to his feet, notching another arrow, but the boy was already gone in a blur. Aspen stared after him.

" _What_ ," she asked, "was that?"

Before Clint could answer, the automatic gun in the bunker began to fire again. Clint cried out as his right side was hit, falling to the ground.

"Clint!" Aspen and Natasha both cried out at the same time. Aspen turned to the bunker and sent her anger at it. The bunker crumbled, stones flying in all directions. She ran to Clint's side.

" _We have an enhanced in the field_ ," came Steve's voice over the comm.

"Clint's hit," Natasha said, joining Aspen at Clint's side. Another Hydra weapon began firing at them. Aspen ducked, casting a protective field over them. Natasha helped staunch the wound while the Hulk came crashing in to destroy the other weapons aimed at them. "Thank you," Natasha said as the firing ceased.

Clint moaned with pain as Natasha applied pressure to his side. "Clint?" Aspen asked, taking his hand and squeezing it. He squeezed back, setting his blue eyes on her.

"Stark! We need to get inside!" Steve said, his voice strained with exertion as he took down more soldiers with his shield. He fought near where Aspen and Natasha knelt over Clint. He cast a worried look at them.

" _I'm closing in_ ," Tony replied. " _Drawbridge is down, people,_ " he said a moment later. Aspen saw the shield vanishing from the castle. She looked down at Clint.

"I'm not leaving him," she said aloud.

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac," Natasha said over the comms.

" _I can get Barton to the jet,_ " Thor replied. " _The sooner we're gone the better."_

" _And for goshsakes, watch your language!"_ Tony scolded as Thor took off into the air, coming to retrieve Clint.

Aspen heard Steve sigh over the comm. " _That's not going away anytime soon._ "

Clint grinned up at Aspen. "I'll be okay," he said. "Go get that scepter."

"Okay," Aspen said, hesitating. Thor landed next to them.

"May I?" he asked. Natasha and Aspen stepped away, and Aspen lowered her shield. Thor scooped Clint up in his arms.

"Now I just feel silly," Clint said, his voice weak.

"Oh shut up," Aspen told him. "Just hang in there until we get the scepter. We'll be home before you know it." Clint nodded and Thor took off toward the jet. Aspen shoved down her worry and followed Natasha to where Steve was standing.

"Coming with me?" he asked. Aspen moved to his side with a nod, but Natasha shook her head.

"I'll get everything under control down here. You two go."

Steve nodded, brushing Aspen's arm with his hand as they moved toward the castle. "He'll be okay," he told Aspen, reading her mind.

"I hate to see my friends get hurt," she said.

"I know. Me too." They entered the now deserted grounds of the castle. Bodies and crushed weapons lay scattered about from Tony's assault. Aspen followed Steve down the ramparts, skittering away from the bodies. Steve seemed to sense her discomfort, pulling her ahead of him as if he could shield her. Aspen knew that taking down Hydra sometimes meant killing, but it didn't make looking at dead bodies any more pleasant.

Steve pulled off his helmet as they breached the castle, walking through the splintered doors. All was silent in an eerie manner that made Aspen glance over her shoulder every few seconds.

" _We're locked down out here_ ," Natasha's voice came in on their comms, startling Aspen. " _They know they're beaten_."

"Then get to Banner. Time for a lullaby," Steve said. Aspen hoped Bruce wasn't too tormented after having to turn. He'd helped turn the tides in their battle. He was an asset to the team whether he saw it or not, but she knew he still hesitated to turn.

Steve and Aspen wound their way through the castle, on alert for any signs of Hydra or the enhanced boy. "Did you see the enhanced?" Aspen asked him curiously. Was he like her, the subject of a serum? Or did he come by it naturally?

"Not so much see," Steve said. "He nearly knocked me down."

"What has Strucker been doing here?" Aspen muttered.

"Nothing good," Steve said quietly. "Let's find out." They had reached a set of double doors, and Steve kicked them open. To Aspen's surprise, a familiar face was waiting for them inside. He might have been trying to escape up or down the two staircases that took up most of the room, but he didn't try to run when Steve and Aspen walked into the room. The man wore a monocle over his right eye, a deceivingly civilized piece of eyewear. Aspen had never seen him in person, but she'd looked through his files a dozen times when they'd been trying to find him.

"Baron Strucker," Steve said as if casually meeting an old enemy. Which of course he was. "Hydra's number one thug." Aspen admired his confidence though Strucker did not show any signs of being intimidated. Aspen hovered behind Steve, not sure just what Strucker was planning on doing. He was alone. He should know he was outmatched.

"Technically I'm a thug for SHIELD," Strucker said. Aspen had nearly forgotten he had once worked for them.

"Well then technically you're unemployed," Steve told him, moving closer. "Where's Loki's scepter?" he asked, his voice firm as he stood before Strucker.

"Don't worry. I know when I'm beat," Strucker said. "You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope?" he asked casually. It was all the same with Hydra. They thought if they rolled over and played nice that people would go easy on them. It wasn't naivety or overconfidence but the absolute ignorance they held when it came to the wrongs they'd committed. Strucker didn't see himself as a villain. He didn't see himself as a monster. It was all a matter of perspective. Aspen bit back a retort, satisfying herself with glaring at his back. He clearly didn't see her as a threat, but instead of proving she was one, she let Steve interrogate Strucker.

"I'll put it right under illegal human experimentation," Steve said. It was clear he suspected Strucker had experimented on the enhanced boy. It made sense. Hydra didn't value human life. "How many are there?" Steve asked.

Before Strucker could reply, warning bells went off in Aspen's head. She turned just in time to see a young girl approaching. There was a flash of red at her fingertips, and Steve was pushed backwards down the stairs, skidding to a halt halfway down. He regained his footing and started back up, but the girl stepped backwards behind the doors he had kicked open and they shut behind her. Aspen had been too surprised to act, but anger toward the strange girl swelled up. She'd hurt Steve and that was something Aspen couldn't let slide.

"We have a second enhanced," Steve said into the comm. "Female. Do not engage."

"You'll have to be faster than-" Strucker started to speak but Steve stepped hard on the edge of his fallen shield, kicking it straight at Strucker's face. The Hydra thug collapsed to the floor with a moan, monocle broken.

"I'm going after her," Aspen said, moving toward the doors.

Steve caught her arm. "We don't know what she's capable of."

"Well then let's find out." She pulled out of his grasp and sent a surge of power at the doors, ripping them off their hinges. "Stay with Strucker," she told Steve. "I'll be fine."

He hesitated in the doorway, clearly wanting to follow after her. He stayed though, letting her chase after the enhanced girl on her own. She had a head start, but Aspen was quickly gaining on her, weaving her way through the castle. She pushed through a set of doors, charging into the room, and found herself thrown backwards by a red force field that took her by surprise. She caught herself before she hit the floor, landing gracefully on her feet and preparing herself for the enhanced girl. The girl stepped out into view, her eyes faintly glowing with red as she surveyed Aspen. She had long, brown hair that settled in waves down her back and over her shoulders. Rings adorned her fingers and for a moment she reminded Aspen of a gypsy with the wild look in her eyes and her clothing and jewelry. Aspen was surprised, however, to find that she looked even younger than her. She was perhaps twenty or twenty-two. Perhaps the same age as Aspen when she'd been injected with the Superhero Serum. Aspen knew better than to underestimate her because of her age though.

As the girl summoned up her mysterious red energy, letting it dance a long her fingertips, Aspen summoned her own energy, pushing the girl back a few steps. She saw surprise behind the red-tinted eyes, then determination. The girl lifted her hands and let out a surge of power. Aspen threw up a force field and the red energy was absorbed. Aspen flung her powers back at the girl, and she flew backwards to the floor. She glared up at Aspen and suddenly there was a blinding pain behind her eyes. Aspen winced, crying out. She struggled against it, not expecting the mental attack. What was this girl's power? It was like she was trying to access her mind. Aspen fought hard against it, pushing the girl out. She nearly failed but suddenly there was a flash of movement. The enhanced boy appeared. He looked between the girl and Aspen before scooping the girl up. They both disappeared, and the pressure in Aspen's head vanished. She stood, panting, for a few minutes, trying to recover her strength. She had not been expecting that kind of power. The girl wasn't fumbling to use it either – she _knew_ how to use it. She knew how to weaken people.

"Aspen?" She turned to find Steve standing there. "Are you okay?"

"Where's Strucker?"

"Natasha's guarding him. Did you find the girl?" he asked. Aspen straightened so he wouldn't see how weak she was.

"Yeah," she told him. "The boy took her away before I could find out who she was. She's strong. Really strong."

"Yeah, I got that," Steve said, his forehead creasing. "Did she hurt you?"

"She tried, but I'm okay." She pushed her pain aside. "Have you heard from Tony? Does he have the scepter?" She realized her comm had died sometime when she'd been fighting the enhanced girl.

"I can't get ahold of him. I'm not sure. Can you sense the scepter?" he asked her.

Her head was still buzzing, but she tried to concentrate. "Three floors below us." She winced as her head gave a painful throb.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked, giving her a concerned look.

"She attacked my mind. It hurts." A splitting headache had overtaken her head. She must have swayed because the next thing she knew, Steve had scooped her up in his arms and was carrying her toward the castle doors. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you back to the jet. She clearly hurt you."

"I can walk on my own," she told him stubbornly. "I just need some fresh air."

Steve set her on her feet, but he kept an arm around her waist. She leaned into him, not wanting to push away his concern. "What about Tony?" she asked.

"Tony can take care of himself," Steve told her.

They found themselves on a parapet that overlooked the city. Smoke was issuing from several buildings, and Aspen was glad that the parasite that was Hydra had been removed from the city. The fresh air did help and her head cleared enough for her to feel stronger. The dull throbbing wouldn't go away though. She wondered if this was how other people felt when she delved into their minds. She shook the thought away. She was nothing like that girl. She didn't attack peoples' minds like that. Her thoughts flashed back to the Hydra agent she'd tortured. She tried to tell herself that was different but she couldn't convince herself.

"So you think Strucker experimented on the enhanced?" Aspen asked Steve, turning to look at him. He was leaning his arms on the low wall, his blonde hair ruffling in the breeze.

"I wouldn't put it past him, and he didn't deny it. We know the scepter can do things to the mind."

"This is taking it to a whole new level though. Is that what he's been doing with it all this time? Experimenting on live subjects? For what purpose though? Is he building an army?"

"He's got his men, and there are only two enhanced that we know of."

"She knew how to use her powers. She wasn't new to them," Aspen told him. "I don't think he was either."

"Maybe the others didn't survive," Steve suggested. "Serums that alter the body's chemistry are dangerous."

"So what would be their motive? Do you think Strucker forced them?" she asked.

"I don't think they'd still be working for him if he had. Maybe they're Hydra sympathizers."

"They're young though. Younger than me. Something tells me there's more to it than just serving Hydra." She just didn't know what.

"Sokovia is ridden with war. Maybe they wanted to try to help their country," Steve suggested.

"If that's true then you understand them in a way no one else does," Aspen said.

"I just don't understand how they think Hydra is the answer."

"Hydra can make big promises, and they're just kids." As someone who had worked for a criminal, she understood that desperation when you thought there was nothing else out there for you.

"What do you think they'll do now that Hydra's defeated?" Steve asked.

"Try to protect their city in any way they can," Aspen said. "And maybe we should let them."

"I don't think we'll be catching up to them any time soon," Steve said with a wistful smile.

"Someone's coming." They turned to face the doorway but it was Tony who stepped out a second later, clad in his Iron Man suit and holding a very familiar object. The scepter's blue crystal glinted in the late morning sun. Aspen felt a sudden jolt as an image of Loki holding the scepter sprung into her mind. He'd never used it on her though he'd threatened to. He'd wanted her to choose to join him of her own freewill. She hadn't, of course.

"Let's get out of here," Tony said, his faceplate lifting so that he could speak clearer. Aspen didn't miss the looking behind his eyes. Haunted. That was the word that came to mind.

"What did you find down there?" she asked him.

"Stuff Hydra stole. Nothing important," he brushed it off.

"You saw something," Aspen pressed. "Did you run into the enhanced?"

"No," Tony said quickly. "I didn't see them." He paused, looking down at the scepter. "I saw some of the Chitauri leviathans."

"And it reminded you of the battle. Of the portal," Aspen surmised. Tony's eyes flitted to hers, and she saw a vulnerability there that he did not show people.

"Something like that." His expression closed up again. His helmet shut with a clank. "Let's head back to the jet _,_ " he told them. "It's been a long day."

Scepter still grasped in his hand, he took off, shooting away from them. Steve and Aspen stared after him. "Something's wrong," Aspen said.

Steve glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. Something rattled him though. He's not going to talk to any of us about it. You know how he shuts people out."

"Yeah, I know. Well, we might as well get back. Our work here is done."

"Kind of hard to believe," Aspen said, looking back at the castle as they made their way downward toward the woods. "We've been after Strucker and the scepter for so long now, chasing dead ends. What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Steve said, a smile lighting up his face. "Maybe take some time off from chasing Hydra."

"I'm always game for not letting Hydra consume our lives," Aspen said, returning his smile. "You do know Tony is going to throw a party after this. A big one."

"You know, that doesn't actually sound half bad," Steve said.

"Maybe it's _you_ , not Tony I should be worried about," Aspen said. She put a hand up to his forehead. "You sure you're feeling okay?"

He chuckled. "I'm just glad this is over."

"Me too."

…

Steve glanced over at Aspen. They were back in the jet flying toward New York. NATO had come to pick up Strucker and the surviving Hydra soldiers. Steve hoped Sokovia was relieved, but they hadn't come across any Sokovians in their short time in the city. Aspen was huddled in one of the seats, her palms covering her forehead. He could tell she was in pain, but he didn't know how to help her. She'd told him that she couldn't seem to take the pain away no matter how hard she tried. It was a bit frightening to think that the enhanced girl could hurt Aspen so much just by using her mental powers.

"She going to be okay?" Tony asked. The jet was on autopilot now, and Tony glanced over at Aspen.

"I hope so. The enhanced girl hit her hard. She wasn't expecting that."

"Well hopefully we'll never run into her or her super speed buddy again."

"Yeah, hopefully not."

"I can postpone the revels if you think she needs to rest longer," Tony said a moment later. As predicted, Tony had decided a party was the best way to celebrate their victory. Steve was sure this would be a big one but for once he wasn't dreading it. He felt like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Another big Hydra player down. He knew this by no means meant Hydra was done. Another leader would crawl out from under a rock and take over. But for today it felt like a victory.

"That's very generous of you, but I think three days should be enough for her to recover." He frowned. "I hope."

Bruce was huddled in a corner talking to Natasha and though he seemed shaken after the transformation, his face was a little more open taking to Natasha. He'd overheard Natasha asking him, " _How long is it going to take for you to trust me?_ " and Bruce's reply of, " _It's not you I don't trust._ " He was afraid of hurting her. That much was clear. Steve just hoped he'd get past that and realize Natasha was working really hard to get him to open up to her.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked, walking over to where Clint lay.

He groaned a little. "I'll live. How's Pen? She looks bad. What did that little witch do to her?"

"She attacked her mind. I guess she has mental powers. She seemed to be able to control this energy – the energy seemed to come from her though. She was trained though, not a newbie. She knows how to use her powers."

Clint glanced over at Aspen. "It's scary when you find your match," he said.

Steve thought back to Red Skull and his super strength. It had been alarming to find he might not be the strongest soldier fighting in the war especially when it was Hydra's leader that held the other sample of Super Soldier Serum in his veins.

He walked over to Aspen, sitting down next to her. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked. He wished he could take whatever pain she was feeling away, but she shook her head, lowering her hands and raising her eyes to his.

"Unless you can take away headaches, then no."

"Did you take an Aspirin or something?" he asked. He had no idea if it was that kind of headache, but Aspen nodded.

"I think I just need to lie down when we get back. Did I hear something about revels?" She tried to smile but it came out as more of a wince.

"Yeah, Tony wants to throw a big party in a few days. He's inviting lots of people this time."

"As long as we get to see Sam, I'm good," Aspen said. "I wouldn't mind a distraction."

"Yeah, I'll invite him."

"Is Thor taking the scepter back to Asgard?" Aspen asked and something flitted behind her eyes. Worry? Fear? Steve wasn't sure what it was.

"After the party, yeah. Tony's going to run a few tests on it first, but then it goes back to Asgard."

"Right. Good." Something was definitely off, but Aspen didn't elaborate. He didn't press her, but he was left wondering if there was some reason she didn't want the scepter to go back to Asgard. "I'm just glad Strucker doesn't have it anymore," Aspen said. "Even if those two enhanced signed up for experimentation, they couldn't have really known what they were getting themselves into."

"Let's hope they at least had a choice."

"With Hydra, who knows? But they might have been desperate. I wouldn't be surprised if Hydra had orchestrated part of the war in their country. Seems like something they would do."

"It does. But they'd pin the blame on someone else, pretend like they were the heroes." It sickened him to think of how far Hydra's reach was.

Aspen looked exhausted, so Steve suggested she try to sleep. She nodded, lying down on the seat and putting her head in his lap. He rubbed his thumb on her temple, hoping to tamp down some of the pain. It must have worked because she was fast asleep for the rest of the trip and though Steve's leg fell asleep halfway through, he stayed still so she could sleep. It was going on late afternoon when they arrived home. Maria Hill greeted them as well as Helen Cho and her assistants. Clint was taken off to be healed, Natasha following closely. Aspen wanted to follow too, and Steve knew there was no use arguing. She went off with them, and Steve turned to talk to Maria Hill. She assured him that NATO had Strucker.

"The two enhanced?" he asked.

"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins." Maria handed him a tablet and he slid his finger across it to play the video. The two enhanced were involved in some sort of protest, shouting and raising their fists in the air. Pietro had dark hair, and Steve realized this was before their transformation. "Orphaned at ten when a shell hit their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special." Steve felt a small twinge of sympathy. He knew what it was like to be an orphan. He knew the desperation and the loneliness. At least they'd had each other.

"Their abilities?" Steve asked. He knew the basics. Pietro Maximoff was fast and Wanda Maximoff could manipulate some sort of energy.

"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermo homeostasis. Her thing is neuro-electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." Steve glanced at her not understanding half of what she'd just said. "He's fast and she's weird," she reiterated. "File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments," Maria said as Steve pressed the elevator button. He walked in as the doors opened. "That's nuts."

"What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?" he countered, giving her a small smile.

"We're not at war, Captain," she told him.

"They are," he said before the elevator doors slid shut. In truth he completely understood why they might have volunteered for the experimentation. As he had suspected, it was to protect their country. If their parents had been killed in part of the war, they would have been determined to do anything to avenge them. The person who had approached them probably made it sound like an opportunity, one they'd only been too willing to take. Hydra wouldn't have introduced themselves as evil if they wanted people to volunteer. Would he have done the same before he knew what Hydra was? He'd never heard of the SSR before Doctor Erskine had proposed Project Rebirth. If Hydra had approached him with the same proposition, would he have accepted? The Maximoffs hadn't asked for what had happened to them. He didn't know if they would come across the twins again. They had no reason to leave Sokovia, and he knew of no reason why they would come after the Avengers. The Hydra base there was gone. They were on their own again, and that was probably for the better.

…

Aspen sat next to where Clint was being healed by Helen Cho's device. It was an incredible machine that printed real human tissue. Clint's injured side was in the process of being regrown. Helen had explained how the machine rebuilt tissue, and Aspen had been fascinated by it. Clint's side would look like it hadn't been injured at all when the process was done.

"You look awful, Pen. You should go to bed," Clint said, turning his head to look at her.

"Thanks," Aspen said. "You look pretty awful yourself, and I'm not leaving until I know you're going to live."

"You wouldn't let me die," Clint said with a smile.

"You really do look awful," Tony said, holding out a green smoothie for Aspen.

She grimaced, taking the beverage. "What's in this? Creamed spinach?"

"Kale. It's good for you. Drink it."

Aspen took a sip and made a face. "It tastes like grass."

"Your taste buds are inferior," Tony told her. Aspen set the drink aside. "But seriously, you should get some rest," Tony repeated.

"Do I look that bad?" Tony and Clint exchanged a glance. "Fine, I'll go! I need to get rested up for the party of the century anyway." She headed out of the lab, meeting Steve on the stairs. He was still in uniform, holding a tablet. He looked up when she approached.

"We learned more about the enhanced," he told her, joining her on the landing of the stairs. He stood next to her so that she could see the screen on his tablet. "Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. They're twins, orphaned at ten. I guess their building collapsed killing their parents. They volunteered for Strucker's experiments."

"No wonder. They wanted to avenge their parents and bring an end to the war that killed them." Aspen looked down at the video feed that was playing. It showed a younger Wanda and Pietro protesting in a crowd. Pietro's hair was brown like his sister's. It must have changed during his transition. "Hydra reached out and gave them the power to make a difference. Who were they to know how evil Hydra is?"

"Well hopefully without Hydra's influence they can make better decisions."

"Now they're without guidance though." Aspen felt sympathy for the twins. They hadn't asked for what had happened to them – the war, the death of their parents…

"Are you suggesting we find them and give them a second chance?" Steve asked.

"I don't know if they'd take it," Aspen said. "They must have known who we were, but they fought us even still."

"Well, at least we know a little more about them if we do ever cross paths with them again."

"Sometimes I think how easy it would have been for me to go down that very same path," Aspen said. "I was naïve, easy pickings. Hydra could have scooped me up before SHIELD did. I could still be feeling lost now. The others might not understand, but we do. We understand that desperation to do what we can to fight or to atone for what we might have done in the past."

"We've all made mistakes. It's what we do to fix them and move on that defines us."

Aspen winced as another shoot of pain went through her head. The pain had dulled somewhat, but it was still there, a slight sting as if electricity had run through her brain.

"You need to go lie down," Steve insisted, worry lines appearing between his eyes.

"Okay, okay, I will. You win."

He bent down to kiss her. "That was easy."

"I'm tired of everyone nagging me. I already have a mom. I don't need six more," she told him, heading for the elevator. Steve smiled before looking back down at the tablet and moving off toward the lab. The mission was over, but it somehow felt unfinished like there were too many loose threads that had come unraveled and become tangled. She'd heard the eagerness in Tony's voice when he'd told Thor he'd look over the scepter before the demi-god returned it to its rightful place in Asgard. Who knew what he could accomplish in two days with the thing? And then there was the matter of whether or not she told Thor the truth about Loki. It was a burden she didn't want. She knew there should be no 'maybe' when it came to her telling him, but she couldn't bring herself to commit to it. Her headache flared just thinking about it so she pushed it aside, yet again, and fell into bed thinking about the next few days when she could relax. The scepter was safe, Clint was going to be okay, and Aspen was already feeling better as she fell into a deep sleep, Phoenix curled up against her side.


	25. Revels

**Author's Note:** I finally got internet! I'm really excited about that. And I went to see Civil War again and that was just a good way to end my day. I'm so inspired to write now! I just want to get to the Civil War part or at least start leading more up to it. Gah, all the feels. Anyway, we're getting further into Ultron. I swear every chapter I write now is like 15 pages so you'll be getting some long ones! I'm SO disappointed that Agent Carter was cancelled. There is a petition online though to have Netflix pick it up - if you are a fan of the show, please sign it! ABC has no idea what it's letting go of... Peggy can't go down like that.

* * *

 **23 – Revels – May 2, 2015**

The next few days were uneventful compared to their successful mission in Sokovia. It was a sort of let down, Aspen thought. All this time they'd been chasing Strucker and now he was beat. She couldn't help feeling like there were still loose ends. Nothing they'd worked so hard to achieve could be that easy, but they had taken him with relative ease. Aspen let herself relax though. She shed the anxiety and guilt that had been riddling her since she'd snapped that man's neck and put on a new coat of confidence. She had been doing her job. If she hadn't extracted that information, they might never have found Strucker and if she'd let the man live, he most definitely would have warned Strucker. At least that's what she told herself. She'd expected to have nightmares, but really her dreams were just tunnels of black, and she woke up feeling like she hadn't dreamt at all. She supposed that was better than the alternative – red blood on stark white tiles.

Tony had planned a big party with a flock of guests. Aspen had a feeling that many of the guests would consider it the party of the century, but she was just glad the team was taking some time to itself. Sometimes they needed to let loose and have fun. Of course Tony's ideas of fun didn't always align with hers, but the distraction of the party guests would be a good one, she decided.

When the night came, she donned one of her favorite dresses. It was something she had actually picked out, not Pepper, on one of the rare shopping trips she'd taken a couple of months ago. She'd never been overly concerned with fashion, but as she pulled the dress out of the bag, she had to smile. It was a deep shade of green, made of a silky fabric that looked like moving water when she walked. An over layer of black lace complemented the green. Steve had already gone downstairs to greet Sam, so Aspen hurried to get dressed, stroking Phoenix's head before leaving their floor and heading to the party. Guests were starting to flood into the lounge, and the music was already blaring. Aspen spotted Tony across the room greeting his best friend Rhodey. She smiled a greeting and looked around for Steve. People were still streaming in, and Aspen felt a tingle of nerves. She knew it was just another party and that these people were Tony's friends and acquaintances, but somehow she felt a rush of anxiety walking amid the crowd. Perhaps she'd gotten so used to watching her back that she felt that instinct even when she was around friends. She hadn't grown up going to parties. She hadn't even attended her own prom. Crowds like this felt like mobs, and she felt her confidence waning.

She felt a hand slide into hers and suddenly Steve was there, and her anxiety faded away. "Hey, sorry," he said. "Sam is over there." He led her over to where their friend stood, beer in hand. He set the bottle down when he saw Aspen and came over to give her a hug.

"Hey, Sam!" Aspen hugged him back. "It's been too long."

"It really has. Life in DC has been dull in comparison to what you guys have been doing."

"Most everyone's life is and that's not actually a bad thing," Aspen said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to a little down time."

"I thought Tony would be glad too but he and Bruce have been locked away in the lab since we got back," Steve said.

"Scientists," Aspen said, rolling her eyes.

"Well now we're here to have fun although Doctor Banner looks a little lost," Sam said, finding Bruce in the crowd.

"He's not super big on parties. It raises his anxiety. Can't say I blame him." Aspen was still much more tempted by quiet nights than party nights, but she put on a smile. "But Tony does know how to throw a party. I don't even know who ninety percent of these people are."

"You kind of have to wonder if Tony does too," Steve said, letting his eyes drift around the room.

"Tony loves a crowd. More people to admire him." She looked around for the rest of her team and saw Natasha and Rhodey striking up a conversation while Doctor Chen spoke to Clint.

"Game of pool?" Sam suggested to Steve, nodding toward the currently vacant pool table.

"You're on. Aspen?" Steve invited her.

"I'll watch."

"Oh come on, Clint tells me you're unbeatable," Sam told her, giving her a playful nudge.

"Yeah, he exaggerates to make me feel better. _He_ is the unbeatable one. I swear that guy never misses anything. Except maybe the garbage. Have you seen his room?"

"He's a bachelor," Sam said. "It's what we do."

"You're not that messy."

"No, but I was in the air force. Being tidy is sort of drilled into us." He grabbed his cue and handed the second one to Steve. "It's the little things like that we never forget." Steve nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's get this game going." He arranged the balls and motioned for Steve to shoot first.

The crowd of people had nearly tripled, and Aspen kept close to the pool table, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of bodies crammed into one space. Outside of her team, she only recognized Maria Hill, Doctor Cho, and Rhodey. It was amazing how many people Tony knew because besides Sam, none of them were Steve's friends. There were a few veterans that Aspen thought might have served in the Second World War – they looked about the right age. She wondered if they had any stories that coincided with Steve's.

"Aspen!" Turning at the sound of her name, Aspen found herself face to face with Lucy Hill. Her arm was wrapped around her boyfriend, Noah, and both looked at home amidst the crowd.

"Hey Lucy, Noah. It's good to see you."

"It feels like its been ages even though we work in the same building," Lucy said.

"I know, and I'm sorry I haven't had much time to visit lately." Aspen felt as if she'd cut herself off over the past few months. Of course their lives had been crazy, but she sometimes forgot that narrow-mindedly pursuing a mission wasn't always the healthiest route. Or maybe even after all this time she was still getting used to having people who cared about her. She'd never been good at keeping friends, so she was lucky that people like Lucy understood.

"I'm so jealous you got to take down Strucker," Lucy said. "I miss seeing action. Not that I ever saw much." SHIELD had fallen early on in Lucy's career as an agent and though she worked for Tony now, she didn't see much action.

"Well, technically Steve took down Strucker by kicking his shield at his face. I had very little to do with it." Aspen glanced at Steve with a smile.

"You don't mince words, do you?" Sam asked his friend with a smirk.

"He had it coming," Steve replied.

"No doubt."

"I can't believe he used to work for SHIELD," Lucy said with a shudder. "So many of them slipped past us."

"Hydra can be scarily organized and good at infiltration," Aspen said. "Without Strucker though, we hope they'll be a little less organized."

"On a brighter note, Tony sure knows how to throw a party," Lucy said, sounding giddy with excitement.

"That's one way of putting it," Aspen grumbled.

"You don't like parties?" Lucy asked, sounding a little surprised.

"They're not my favorite thing," Aspen told her. "I don't like being around so many people. It makes me nervous. And I think drinking and listening to loud music is overrated."

"Sometimes I think you were meant to live in another time," Lucy said.

Aspen smiled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you're dating Captain America who's like from the forties and all, but you have the same values as him. At least what I know of him," Lucy said, glancing shyly toward Steve who was sinking several of the billiard balls into the side pockets. "You aren't concerned about the same trivial things the rest of us are. You're down to earth and serious. Whenever I'm around you I feel so young."

"Funny, that's how I feel around the rest of my team. Except Tony most of the time. He's a total dork in reality. Just don't tell him I said that."

"How many people can call Tony Stark a dork?" Lucy said. "You're so lucky you know him so well."

"Careful, you're starting to make me jealous," Noah told her, his tone teasing.

"Like I'd stand a chance with Tony Stark," Lucy said, her cheeks coloring slightly.

"If you're of the female variety then you stand a chance with Tony Stark," Aspen said, rolling her eyes toward Tony. He was speaking with Thor and Rhodey, staring at his best friend with a look of mild amusement and patience. "I'm glad he has Pepper though. She's good for him. He behaves much better with her around."

"But she's not here now," Lucy said. "I heard she was at a conference in Hong Kong or something. She keeps really busy."

"Yeah, she does. I guess we all do."

"Still – you've got to admit it's nice to relax every once in awhile. Have some fun," Lucy prompted.

"I suppose although this isn't really my idea of relaxation."

"That's because you're too tense all the time." Clint came up behind her, grabbing her shoulders and rubbing them.

"Ouch! Who gave you a masseur's license? You're fired." Aspen grimaced.

"I'm going to go grab a drink. Do you want anything?" Lucy asked Aspen, taking Noah's hand.

"No, you two go have fun. I'm just going to sulk over here," Aspen said. She smiled to show she wasn't really sulking and Lucy and Noah moved off. Aspen turned to Clint. "You didn't invite anyone?" she asked the archer.

"No one to invite. All my friends are here."

"Hmm, you don't have _any_ friends outside the Tower? I find that hard to believe."

"Well I did invite Barney, but he was busy."

"He's always busy. What about Lucky?"

Clint laughed. "I'm not sure Tony would go for that."

"I think we need to get you out to meet new people," Aspen said. "You're getting up there in years. Opportunities aren't going to come around so often. I'm concerned for you."

"You're so complimentary," Clint said. "Jerk." He smiled at her though.

"But seriously. I know we haven't really ever discussed this but I've _never_ seen you even go on a date. You're married to your work but we all need a break from that every once in awhile."

"Where do you think I go when I'm away from the Tower?" Clint asked, his tone growing serious.

"I honestly have no idea." Aspen had never pried, but she couldn't deny the twinge of hurt she felt that he had never told her.

"Maybe I do have someone," Clint said. "Maybe I just try to keep work separate. It's a difficult job to have when you have people you care about."

"If you had someone you would have already told me because you know I'd do everything within my power to keep them safe too," Aspen said flatly. "You wouldn't lie to me."

When Clint didn't speak, Aspen felt a twinge. He hadn't agreed, but she refused to believe he'd keep something like that from her. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Just enjoy the party." She moved off and Clint called her name, but she kept going. Steve watched her with concerned eyes, but she motioned for him to keep playing his game with Sam.

"Drink?" asked the guy working behind the bar. Aspen nearly said no. Normally she would have. Growing up with an alcoholic aunt had influenced Aspen not to drink, but right now she wished she could just push away her anxieties. The crowd of people felt like it was pushing into her, so she gave in. Just this once couldn't hurt. If it helped her relax then that wouldn't be a bad thing.

"Sure. Give me whatever. Just not something heavy on the alcohol," she said, painfully ignorant toward different types of alcoholic beverages.

"Sure thing." He mixed her something that turned out a violent shade of red. Aspen took it with a thanks, seating herself at the end of the bar and taking a sip. It tasted like alcohol and strawberries with a twist of sugar and lime. Not bad though she couldn't quite bring herself to like the bite of the alcohol. Why did parties have to stress her out so much? She hated that she couldn't seep to relax. She couldn't just have a good time like everyone else. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her so much but looking around at all the loud, happy people, she felt alone. Even Steve seemed at ease finishing off his game with Sam. He glanced around for her a few times, but the crowd worked against them as a barrier. When he and Sam finished their game and walked off together, Aspen let them go, sticking to her comfortable seat. Her glass was refilled at some point, but she hardly noticed. A comfortable numbness was taking over her brain and the crowd of people was looking a little blurry. Somehow that made them a little less intimidating.

"Now this isn't like you." Tony slid into the seat next to her.

"What? The sitting alone sulking at a party or the drinking?" she asked, glancing up at him over the rim of her glass.

"The latter."

"Maybe I just need to relax."

Tony reached forward and took the glass out of her hand. "You don't need to relax," he told her. "This isn't your scene. I know it, you know it. The whole room probably knows it. But there's nothing wrong with that. You put up with all these parties and I'm grateful, but I think you're missing the bigger picture."

"And what's that?" Aspen asked.

"You're afraid of large crowds of people."

Aspen stared at Tony for a second and then laughed. "Afraid? I'm not sure that's the word I would use."

"Anxiety. I know the look. I know the feeling." He looked down for a moment. "After New York I'd get these moments where my heartbeat sped up so much but I couldn't seem to get enough air in my lungs. I realized later that these were panic attacks. Now I'm not saying you're about to have a panic attack, but every time I drag you to one of these parties you get this look in your eyes that I recognize. You don't know all these people. You don't know who to trust. You've been betrayed by strangers and friends too often. You're always on your guard and no amount of coaxing or alcohol will change that."

"Where is this going?" Aspen asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I just wanted you to know that you can leave at any time. I won't get offended. It just took me awhile to realize why you hated these parties so much. You're much happier when you're around just your friends. I have no expectations of you getting up and socializing. I just don't want you to be unhappy."

What he said made sense. Aspen had always had trust issues, but she'd never put a name to it. Social anxiety? She didn't know these people – didn't trust all of them. Tony was right. She was on her guard and, no matter the amount of coaxing, she wasn't going to let it down. "Thanks, Tony," she said. "I feel better just knowing you're looking out for me."

"Always. Now go find Steve and Sam. Find a quiet place to chat." Tony stood. "Leave the socializing to me." He gave her a wink.

"Will do."

Tony left, and Aspen watched him go, surprised once more by his sudden perceptiveness. She should find Clint and apologize, but she couldn't see him in the crowd. She couldn't find Steve either and felt a note of panic rising. As if he'd sensed her looking for him, he appeared, eyes catching hers. She stood and moved toward him, twining her fingers with his.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I will be," she said. "I just hate parties."

"I know." He led her over to a quiet spot where a set of chairs separated them from the crowd. "Sam's grabbing us some beers," he said. "He can't stay the whole time. He's got work tomorrow morning."

"I'm glad he could come. We don't see him enough," Aspen said. "Do you think I have social anxiety?" she asked the next second, unable to push the thought Tony had planted from her head.

"What?" Steve looked at her, surprise written on his face.

"Tony said I have social anxiety. It's why I hate big parties like this. I don't like being around so many people."

"There's nothing wrong with that. I don't really like it either."

"But you're okay with it. I feel like my heart is about to leap out of my chest because my pulse is racing so much. I feel dizzy – like vertigo only with crowds as if I could fall right into them and never get back up."

"I didn't realize it affected you so much." The worry lines had appeared between his eyes. "We don't have to be here."

"I didn't realize it affected me so much either. I guess I'd never noticed until recently. Like I'm getting worse…I don't know." She understood her reluctance to trust people but she'd never realized how uncomfortable she was around large groups of them. Usually she just forced her way through with sarcasm, but now that she was trying to relax and just be herself, she found it impossible. "It's just – how can I go into battle against Hydra and not blink an eye and yet I come here and I'm suddenly a total basket case?"

"You're different," Steve told her. "That's what makes you so special. You don't thrive on the same things as other people. I don't either, and that's part of what makes us so alike. Hey, Tony did say that the party ends at midnight. After that it's just going to be us and whatever close friends stick around. Then we can really celebrate."

"I think I can make it until then." Aspen put on a brave smile.

"Don't think there's something wrong with you," Steve told her, reaching forward to twine his fingers with hers. "There isn't."

"Thanks. I'm just glad I have a team to look out for me. They can protect me from Hydra _and_ large crowds of partying people."

"What about large crowds of partying people?" Sam sat down next to Steve, handing him a bottle of beer.

"They're overwhelming," Aspen told him.

"Your _world_ is overwhelming," Sam said, glancing at Steve. "And Tony Stark certainly knows how to throw a party, but I hear you."

"You think I'd get used to it, but I don't."

"Well they probably didn't celebrate like this after a successful smuggling mission, right?" Sam said.

Aspen laughed. "Ha, no. Not quite. I suppose it's a change for the better. People appreciate what we do even if they don't fully understand it. No victory for a smuggler except the cash at the end of the deal."

"So Steve said you two might take off for awhile now that the mission is over," Sam said, pursing a more comfortable topic. Aspen smiled, relieved to be moving on from her fear of crowds.

"Yeah, we though it might be nice to pretend to be a normal couple for a little while," she said, turning her smile on Steve. He squeezed her hand.

"Where you thinking about going?"

"I have no idea," Aspen replied truthfully. She hadn't found the energy to think too hard about it in the previous days.

"Somewhere quiet," Steve inserted. "I think we could both use some quiet."

"Yes. Somewhere with no Hydra and no one trying to kill us."

Sam chuckled. "Just take that to a vacation agency and see what they can find you."

"Well I guess that takes Madripoor off our list," Aspen said, turning to Steve.

"Darn."

Across the room Tony was having a lively conversation with Thor and, when Tony caught Steve's eye, he waved him over. "So much for our quiet time," Steve said. "You can stay here if you want," he told Aspen.

"I'll stay with you," Sam promised.

"If you're sure," Aspen told him, not wanting to take him away from the party.

"I'm sure," Sam told her. "This is all a little much for me too. Can I get you something to drink? An iced tea?" He knew her well, and that made Aspen smile.

"Yeah, that would be great." She watched Steve move off toward Tony and Thor while Sam went to get her iced tea. Tony told him something and motioned toward a small group sitting amongst the lounge chairs across the room. Aspen saw military uniforms and realized it was the group of veterans she'd noticed earlier. Steve and Thor moved toward them, and she watched as he greeted the veterans. Even across the room she couldn't miss the flash of sorrow in his eyes – the same flash she saw every time the past came up in even the subtlest of ways.

"I heard they were really excited to meet their war hero," Sam said, returning with Aspen's iced tea. She took it gratefully, the cool condensation on the outside of the glass soothing the fever that had worked its way into her body over the last hour. "Does talking about the past still bother him?"

"It does and it doesn't. It brings up painful memories – especially those related to Bucky. But I know he also likes being reminded of it, likes finding people to connect to it. It's a part of him and if it gets forgotten then he feels like he's lost something vital."

"You appreciate him and his past more than anyone I know."

"I was one of the few who got to see him right after he woke up in this time. I feel like I got to see into a window before it closed. Everyone else had to either be let in or they saw the wall he'd built around his pain." She realized she didn't know much about Sam's past. He seemed happy and stable, undamaged like the rest of them. "What about you?" she asked. "We've talked about your time in the Air Force but what about earlier than that? What made you decide to join?"

"My dad was an idealist," Sam told her. "He thought that if there was something you could do to help someone then you should do it no matter the cost to yourself. In the end that's what got him killed."

"I didn't know – I'm so sorry." How could they have never talked about this before? Then she realized; she'd been waiting for him to open the window, let her in. This was a side to Sam she hadn't seen before.

"He died a hero's death my mom told me. That didn't do much for the pain at first. I was young; I didn't understand. But as I grew older and saw the war and the pain and the fear around me, I realized I wasn't put on this earth to do nothing about it. That's when I joined the Air Force. Flying always seemed to be in my blood. I started to make a difference. It's part of what made losing Riley so difficult. I couldn't save him just like I couldn't save my dad. It's one thing to be told someone died a hero's death but it's another to be okay with it."

"Sacrifice is one of those tricky things. You stand for an ideal but when someone you care about dies for it, it makes you question everything. I felt that way when my dad died. He died to save me. He died a hero's death. But did that really make it any easier losing him? No. It's a fear I live with every time we go on a mission. What if one of us doesn't make it out alive? We're heroes but I don't want any of us to die a hero's death. I don't want any of us to die at all. And in a sense that makes me selfish. I don't want them to die because I care about them, because I'm afraid to live without them."

"It's human, not selfish, but I know what you mean. What if one hero dies and a hundred people live?"

"There aren't enough heroes to go around."

"Well let's hope the threat never gets so big that we have to worry about that."

"Maybe we can convert a few of these party-goers." She gazed around the room. "Like that guy." She nodded toward a guy trying to get a woman to dance with him. "Seems like he already has the superpower of handling rejection."

Sam snorted as he took a sip of his beer. "He could teach me a thing or two."

"Or how about that lady over there. With heels like that she must have incredible balance."

"You heard anything about Julian?" Sam asked.

"Not a word. It's like he vanished into thin air but I know this isn't the last we'll see him. He's too unbalanced and we have too much of a history for him to not come after me again. I'm trying not to worry. I've doubled my powers since his attack."

"Steve says you've really mastered them."

"It's been such a long process. There were times I thought I would never be able to get them under control, but I did. It just took a monumental amount of patience and confidence. And a little help from friends didn't hurt. For the longest time I was fighting who I was. I even had my mom make an antiserum that would reverse the effects, but I never took it. The attack on the Tower happened and I realized I couldn't be responsible for the death of one of my teammates because I was selfish enough to let my powers go. I know it's a personal choice, but it's like your dad said: we weren't put here to do nothing and even if I can do something without my powers, it might not be enough. I was fighting so long and hard with it because it's in my nature to want to save people and I just couldn't realize that I do want these powers. I do want to have every chance to save people."

"You and Steve are a perfect match, you know," Sam told her. "You have the same moral compass that points you so strongly in the right direction that it makes everyone around you want to be like you."

Aspen smiled at the compliment. "I guess that's not a bad thing."

"No, it isn't."

Aspen glanced over to Steve again and saw the way the veterans were looking at him. It was a look you earned, and Steve had earned it a hundred times over. "I look at my life and think how different it could have turned out," Aspen said, watching as Thor poured something into Steve's glass and then into one of the veteran's. "If I'd never met heroes then I might have been stumbling around trying to figure out how to be good in a life surrounded by bad."

"You would have found your way out," Sam told her. "You weren't meant to be a villain."

"Heroes and villains," Aspen said, laughing softly. "There was a time I didn't believe in either."

"Same here. I guess we were both wrong. They've been around us our whole lives, but we hadn't learned to see them yet."

…

After the party died down and the last of the guests had left, the Avengers and their close friends – Maria Hill, Rhodey, and Helen Cho – gathered around the couches in the middle of the lounge in varying states of soberness and awakeness. Doctor Cho immediately curled up in one of the chairs and fell asleep while the others started up a conversation about Thor's hammer. Aspen was only half listening, leaning her head on Steve's shoulder. Clint was twirling a pair of drumsticks in his fingers, still spot on with his hand-eye-coordination even thought she was pretty sure he was completely drunk. Natasha and Bruce chatted, smiles lighting up their faces. Bruce looked more comfortable than Aspen had seen him in a long time. She certainly felt more comfortable with most of the guests gone. She focused on the conversation as Thor invited Clint to try to lift his hammer. Clint heaved on the handle, but it didn't budge. Thor smiled as if he knew that was what would happen.

"Why have none of you tried this before?" Aspen asked, sitting up and watching as Tony, unsuccessfully, tried to lift Mjolnir.

"It's a matter of pride," Tony said stiffly. "I'll be right back."

"What makes you think Iron Man is more worthy than Tony Stark?" Aspen asked when he returned wearing the metal gauntlet of his Iron Man suit. He continued to try unsuccessfully even when Rhodey joined him with a similar glove. Aspen rocked with silent laughter, and Tony sent her a glare.

"You try then," he challenged.

"I don't think so. I saw all the people try to lift it when it fell in New Mexico. I'm not making an ass out of myself."

"Well your boyfriend's up next. Don't insult him."

"I believe in you," Aspen told Steve as he stood, rolling up the sleeves of his blue shirt.

Tony rolled his eyes at her and Clint shook his head. The muscles in Steve's arm bulged, and there was a slight scraping sound as the hammer lifted ever so slightly. Aspen's heart leapt into her throat. Was he actually going to lift it? But it didn't budge after that. She heard Thor chuckle. "Nothing," he said, but she could hear a strand of worry in his voice. Steve had nearly lifted the hammer, and Thor realized it even if he wouldn't admit it. Steve held his hands out in defeat before sitting back down and Aspen wondered if he'd actually tried his hardest. It would be so like him to have the ability to do something powerful but to resist for the sake of his friends.

Bruce tried next doing an impression of turning into the Hulk when he couldn't manage it. "It's incredible how dorky you can all be when we're by ourselves," Aspen said, giving Bruce an affectionate smile.

"Are you excluding yourself from that?" Tony asked.

"Of course. I'm am the essence of professional."

Bruce motioned toward the hammer, looking at Natasha, but she shook her head. "Oh, no no. That's not a question I need answered," she told them.

Tony and Clint began discussing why they couldn't lift the hammer while Thor came up with a simple solution, lifting Mjolnir with ease. "Or you're all not worthy."

They all groaned at his explanation, and Aspen laughed, feeling much more relaxed than she had all night. A second later that feeling was cut off when an earsplitting screech split the air, ringing in their ears. Aspen covered her ears, looking around for the source of the sound. Mechanical clicking followed like something was walking toward them. They turned to find the source of the sound as a croaking voice spoke. " _Wooorrrthyyy_." It drew out the word like it was testing it and Aspen saw what looked like a melted down robot walking toward them – staggering more like – with wires dangling from it and face half melted off. She recognized it as part of the Iron Legion that had come back from Sokovia damaged. She found herself rising to her feet. Tony's robots shouldn't be moving on their own. She glanced over at him and found the same confused and cautious look on his face as the others.

"No," the mutilated robot continued, taking several wobbly steps forward. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers." Aspen felt a jolt at its words. What did it know of them? Her thoughts flashed back to the Hydra man she'd killed.

"Stark." Steve's eyes were set on the robot as he spoke, caution etched in his brow. His stance told Aspen he was ready for a fight.

"Jarvis." Instead of answering Steve himself, Tony turned to his AI for answers. If Tony didn't have an answer for this they were in trouble, Aspen decided. There was no answer from Jarvis.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep or I was a dream," the robot continued as if they hadn't spoken at all.

"Reboot. Legion error. We've got a buggy suit," Tony said, tapping his fingers on his tablet. Aspen could hear the confusion in his voice. This was his technology; he was supposed to be the one in control.

The robot ignored Tony's efforts to shut it down, continuing on in its monologue. "A terrible noise and I was tangled in…strings." It lifted its arms, inspecting the wires dangling down from them as if it couldn't quite figure out what they were. It didn't seem like an error to Aspen. The suit wasn't buggy, it was thinking for itself. She moved closer to Steve, not taking her eyes off of the robot. "Had to kill the other guy," it continued, lifting its arm almost in a shrug. "He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve questioned.

"Wouldn't have been my first call, but down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor questioned. Aspen didn't think it had been sent though. This was one of Tony's creations. The only question was why did it suddenly have a mind of its own?

Instead of speaking with its own voice, the robot stilled, playing a recording for them. " _I see a suit of armor around the world_ ," Tony's voice rang out across the room and Aspen turned her eyes on him.

"Ultron." It was Bruce who spoke now, turning to Tony as well. Aspen glanced between the two of them. Who and what was Ultron? Why did Bruce and Tony seem to understand what it was when none of the rest of their team did?

"In the flesh," the robot replied, recognizing the name. "Or no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on mission." As he spoke, Thor tightened his grip on his hammer and Maria Hill drew her gun, standing slowly and swiveling around to face Ultron. Aspen readied herself, her powers thrumming along her fingertips.

"What mission?" Natasha asked.

"Peace in our time," Ultron replied. Before they had a chance to contemplate what that meant, three of the Iron Legion came flying through the wood paneled walls, sending out splinters and flying straight at the Avengers. Aspen wasn't sure how this was peace. Steve grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back as he kicked the coffee table up in time to block one of the Legion. The table hit him, sending him flying backwards, taking Aspen with him. They landed hard, the air going out of Aspen's lungs. Gunfire and chaos ensued. Aspen lay still for a moment, gathering her breath. Steve turned to her.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded. "For now."

The rest of their team was finding cover while they gathered themselves. They'd been unprepared for an attack, especially one that came from within. Rhodey was thrown backwards out of sight while Tony hit the floor hard. Clint slid under a table and Natasha and Bruce disappeared behind the bar. Another of the Iron Legion appeared from nowhere, grabbing the scepter from where it rested in the lab above them and flying off with it before any of them could react. All Aspen could think was that they'd worked so long and hard for that scepter and they were not going to lose it now to some crazy robot. She sent a surge of powers at it, but it dodged, flying out through the glass windows. She tried to pursue it but another of the robots shot at her, sending her ducking for cover again. Everyone was grabbing for weapons, Natasha scoring a gun from the underside of the bar. Steve didn't bother with weapons. He took a flying leap and grabbed one of the robots from behind, arms gripping it in a strangle hold. He pounded on it with his fist, but the robot moved backwards, sending Steve flying into a wall so hard that the bricks behind him crumbled. He winced in pain as the robot grabbed him and threw him down. He hit the floor hard. Aspen dodged the repulsor rays of the robot, sliding across the floor to Steve. Broken glass sliced at her arms and legs, but she ignored the pain.

"I'm okay," Steve said, pulling himself up. He grabbed her hand as the same robot that had thrown him started firing at them again and pulled her to safety. Everyone was fighting – Natasha firing her gun, Thor swinging his hammer. Tony leapt from the balcony, grabbing onto one of the robots with a long screwdriver. Aspen noticed one of the Legion moving toward Helen Cho who was trying to shield herself behind the piano. She stopped it with her powers, keeping it from stepping any closer. Steve ran forward and grabbed the robot. "Thor!" he shouted, swinging the machine toward the demi-god. With a swing of his hammer, the robot was no more. Tony was working on dismantling the robot he'd jumped. Across the room Clint grabbed Steve's shield and swung it in a neat arc, shouting "Cap!" as he did. Steve grabbed the shield, spinning midair and throwing it. It caught other robot in the middle, ripping it in two. Tony had finally dismantled his robot and had fallen to the floor, sliding through the broken glass.

"Well that was dramatic," Ultron said as they panted, their cuts and bruises stinging. None of them were dressed for a fight. None of them had been ready. Aspen looked around at the destruction and wondered why Ultron had used the word 'peace'. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well," he continued. "You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change." Tony sat down with a thump, looking defeated. A trickle of blood ran down his lip. Steve took a step forward, ready to fight if Ultron resumed the attack. "How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" Ultron questioned. "There's only one path to peace." He reached down and crushed the metal head of one of the downed Iron Legion. "The Avengers' extinction."

Mjolnir went flying past them, hitting Ultron hard. The metal body collapsed onto the floor and they were left in silence. Oil seeped from the body as the blue light died in the eyes. Aspen realized she was trembling and clenched her fists against her side. Her dress was torn from the glass, and there were several cuts on her arms and legs. A piece of glass was stuck in her bicep, and she pulled it out, ignoring the sharp sting.

"Well," she said, turning to Tony. Her voice shook a little. "You certainly know how to throw a party. Next time don't bother to invite your robot friends."


	26. Fractures

**Author's Note:** So I finished writing AoU. I've got like 6 more chapters to post (part two is really long). I just decided to end part two with AoU instead of splitting it up. Part three will be pre-Civil War and part four will be Civil War. I'm so excited! So I was going back reading my author's notes in this story and laughing about how I was sure I'd be sobbing on the floor of the theatre during Civil War. I didn't cry at all. I mean it was close at the funeral, but I didn't cry. I was surprised. I definitely felt all the feels, but I actually laughed more because there are some great lines in that movie. Sam was just the best. Just that movie. I'm still so sad that there was so little Steve - I guess there was more screen time for his character in AoU, you know, an Avengers movie, than in his own movie... They just did a lot with that movie and it was really good, but I don't feel like it was enough Steve for the last Cap movie in his trilogy. I was left wanting more. And then yesterday I watched The Incredible Hulk (yes, for the first time. I didn't care about seeing it at all). It was pretty bad. No character development. I hated how they showed his transformation and all that in like two minutes during the opening credits and I did not like the actor. But anyway, it gave me SUCH an new perspective on the Accords and General Ross. I wrote this whole rant about it on tumblr, but basically Ross is completely irresponsible and has no care about civilian casualties and is a complete and utter hypocrite for telling the Avengers they needed to be put on a leash. Him controlling the Avengers would be a nightmare. I was just astonished. I wasn't 100% against the Accords because I understood the perspective there, but knowing Ross was the one suggesting them, I was like nope. He was just awful.

Okay, I'll quit ranting. My best friend and I have spent hours analyzing and talking about CW. There's just so much to talk about. It's what I love about the movies so much. It's not the action or the adorable guys. It's how deep the characters are; it's their moral dilemmas and their interactions and their opinions. It's how they relate to the world and each other and how they act. It's just fascinating and the actors do such an incredible job with it.

Thank you for reading! I'm really excited that I keep getting new readers for A Game of Trust. I can't believe how far this series has come. I love writing it so much. I've never lost interest which is a first for fan fictions (or writing in general...) It helps that I care about these characters SO much.

* * *

 **24 – Fractures – May 2, 2015**

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Steve asked Aspen, brushing a hand against her arm. She had several cuts where the bits of broken glass had sliced into her skin, but she seemed all right, just shaken. They were all shaken. It was one thing going into an attack or expecting one but they hadn't been expecting one in their own home let alone from one of Tony's creations. They were standing in the lab now, Tony and Bruce trying to figure out what had gone wrong while the rest of them waited for answers and explanations.

Aspen shook her head. "You're the one who got thrown into a brick wall. That had to hurt."

He shrugged and immediately regretted it as a stab of pain pierced his shoulder. "I've been through worse."

"You haven't been attacked by angry robots before," she said matter-of-factly.

"No. I can cross that one off the bucket list."

"I'd like to know just what made that Iron Legion bot act that way. It had a mind of its own but it also had some of Tony's ideas in its head," Aspen said.

"All our work is gone," Bruce said. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

It was disconcerting. Steve wasn't ready for walking, talking, _thinking_ technology like that. Especially technology that seemed to have a bone to pick with the Avengers. But Tony had never accepted limitations even when they were set in place for a good reason. He pushed and pushed until something bad happened and then he tried something new. According to Natasha and Bruce, Ultron had broken into their data. He knew everything there was to know about them. Tony was fiddling around with the remains of the robot as if he could find the answers within. Steve still wasn't clear on what Ultron was and why Tony and Bruce both seemed aware of his existence. Maybe that was what they'd been working on the last few days, locked away in the lab. And why had Ultron wanted the scepter? That had been their mission – get the scepter and keep it safe until Thor could bring it back to Asgard. Now the scepter was gone and though Thor had gone off to try to track the robot, there was a good chance it was lost. Frustration clawed at his mind. If Tony hadn't pushed limitations again they wouldn't be in this situation.

"He said he wanted us dead," Natasha said.

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct," Steve corrected. Dead was dead but extinct left nothing to carry on. How a robot could feel such hatred toward them, Steve didn't know. It had called them murderers. Did it understand the concept of soldiers and spies, the idea of war and the morals that were sometimes bent in order to save lives? How could the world possibly have peace without the Avengers? Was that selfish to think?

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint said, taking a step forward.

"There wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria said. She was pulling a shard of glass from her foot, but she showed no sign of pain. If Ultron had attacked a little sooner who knew how many people could have been hurt.

"Yes there was," Tony said, his voice sounding downcast. He flicked his tablet toward the center of the room. An orange sort of energy appeared there looking weak and defeated. It took Steve a second to figure out what he was looking at. Then he realized it was the remains of Jarvis.

"This is insane," Bruce said, walking toward the energy. He was shocked. Neither he nor Tony had thought this possible, but clearly they hadn't thought this all through.

"Jarvis was the first line of defense," Steve said. "He would have shut Ultron down." It explained how they'd had no warning about the attack. It was calculated, strategic. If Ultron had learned everything about them, did that mean he'd gotten that strategy from them? Had they unwittingly taught him how to stage an attack? Had he known what kind of power the scepter held?

"No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis," Bruce said. "This isn't strategy, this is rage."

Why rage? What had they done to Ultron to make him hate them so much? Until he'd wobbled into the room, Steve hadn't known he existed.

Thundering footsteps interrupted their conversation, and Thor came striding into the room, eyes set on Tony. Steve didn't like what he saw in his eyes. Thor didn't hesitate, reaching Tony and grabbing him by the throat.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Bruce said, backing away as Thor lifted Tony off the ground.

"Use your words buddy," Tony said, his voice muffled as his air was cut off. He grabbed Thor's arm with his hands, but he was no match for the Asgardian.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," he growled. Steve understood how he felt. The scepter belonged in Asgard. He'd been set to take it back after the party and now it was gone. Clearly he hadn't caught up to the Legion because he didn't have the scepter and he was taking out his frustration on Tony. No one moved to stop him.

"Thor," Steve finally cut in, moving forward. "The Legionnaire?" Thor dropped Tony who grasped for breath, stumbling backwards away from Thor. Normally Steve might have cut in earlier – he didn't condone violence on his own team – but he wasn't feeling particularly happy with Tony right now. The looks on his teammates' faces told him the same story. Aspen was staring at Thor with wide eyes. The demi-god glanced at her but quickly ducked his head away as if ashamed for behaving like that in front of her.

"Trail went cold a couple hundred miles out but its headed north," Thor told them. "And it has the scepter," he added, looking at Tony. It was clear he blamed him for the loss. "We have to retrieve it… _again_." Steve felt his frustration. They all did. Ironic that they'd just been celebrating their victory.

"I don't understand," Helen spoke up, moving toward the robot. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" It was a good question. Tony would never purposely create anything that would try to kill them but something had obviously gone wrong. Steve turned to watch Tony. The laughter that followed in place of an answer did nothing to sooth his growing frustrations. Tony was laughing. They'd been attacked by his Iron Legion, the scepter stolen from right in front of them, and he was _laughing_. Bruce was shaking his head at Tony while the others stared at him with varying degrees of surprise and anger.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked. Steve tensed as the Asgardian took a step toward Tony. Tony seemed utterly unconcerned considering Thor's hand had been clamped over his throat a few minutes before.

"No?" Tony said, turning to face him. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible? Is it so…so…it is. It's so terrible." Steve wanted to roll his eyes in frustration. Aspen let out a strangled sort of sound next to him. She was glaring hard enough at Tony that Steve was surprised she hadn't burned him.

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor said, his tone softening as if he was speaking to a petulant child which, really, he was.

"No, I'm sorry," Tony interrupted, stepping forward. "I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't _get_ why we need this." He'd moved straight in front of Thor now, and Steve got the sudden image of someone poking a bear.

"Why we _need_ this?" Aspen spoke up. Tony turned to her. "Why _we_ need this?" She looked around the room, motioning toward the remains of Ultron. "You think we need something that you can't control that attacks us in our own home? Why do we need that? Why do you think our safety and the safety of anyone out there who comes in contact with that scepter is funny? Our safety isn't a joke. The safety of the _world_ isn't a joke." She was in front of him now, poking a finger straight at his chest. Steve could see a flash of pain in Tony's eyes just for a second. He knew Tony hated to be at odds with Aspen.

"No, the safety of the world _isn't_ a joke," he said. He moved away from her, turning to face Bruce. "We didn't create _that_ ," he said. "We weren't even close to an interface. Were we?" He turned to Bruce. Bruce nodded wordlessly.

"Well you did something right and you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD," Steve said, walking forward. No secrets, no repeated mistakes. Why couldn't Tony ever back down from a fight? Even when it was his whole team against him, he had to argue back. He couldn't ever admit when he'd made a mistake, and it was infuriating to Steve.

"You never even told the rest of us what you were doing," Aspen said, echoing Steve's thoughts. "We're supposed to be a team. Teams don't keep things from each other."

Tony didn't even glance at her, and Steve saw the frustration on Aspen's face at being ignored. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked, pointing a finger upwards.

Rhodey shook his head, arms crossed. "No. It's never come up."

"Saved New York?" Tony continued, talking over his friend. Natasha was glowering at him now, and Steve marveled at how Tony turned everything back to himself.

"Never heard that…" Rhodey mumbled.

"Recall that?" Tony asked, voice echoing in the lab. Steve sighed. There was no stopping him now. "Hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers." He looked around at his team. "We can bust arms dealers all the live long day but that up there. That…that's the end game."

Aspen's eyes widened at his words, a flash of panic crossing her face. Steve frowned, but she didn't voice what had frightened her.

"How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony asked matter-of-factly.

Steve had a simple answer. "Together," he said.

"We'll lose." Tony seemed sure, but the future wasn't a sure thing.

"Then we do that together too," he told Tony. They were the Avengers. Tony had said it himself. But that meant they were a team and they worked together. "Thor's right," Steve continued. "Ultron's calling us out and I'd like to find him before he's ready for us." They hadn't been ready for him but now they knew a little more about what they were facing. This was Tony's creation and it was their responsibility to take care of it before it hurt anyone else.

"I still don't understand why Ultron exists," Aspen said. "Why did you create him, Tony? Bruce?"

"Do you ever want to have a normal life?" Tony asked. Aspen frowned, but Steve could see her mind whirring behind her eyes. He could tell she hated that Tony knew just what to say to relate to her. "Do you ever want to come home at the end of the day and not have to rush off to save the world again? Do you ever want peace?"

"Ultron wasn't preaching peace."

"He was supposed to," Bruce said. "That was the idea. Peacekeeping."

"Like the Iron Legion," Steve put in. "People didn't react too well to that." The Legion had come back in rough shape. Clearly the Sokovian's weren't too big on Stark tech.

"It's imperfect," Tony said.

"That's one way of putting it." Tony sent Steve a frustrated look.

"One day we're not going to be enough," Tony insisted.

"So you created artificial intelligence in two days and set it loose on the world," Aspen said.

"It wasn't supposed to be that close to an interface. It wasn't supposed to think that way," Tony defended himself.

"Did you even consider that it might not be a good idea?" Aspen asked. "Do you ever _think_ past whatever your current fixation is?"

"This isn't helping," Clint broke in. Aspen glared at him in response.

"I'm just trying to understand how Tony thinks experimenting with the scepter was a good idea. Wasn't it Hydra experimenting with it two days ago? Now I see why you were trying to study it when it was still in SHIELD's hands. You wanted to take your irresponsibility to the next level." Tony opened his mouth to speak, but Aspen cut him off. "Do you _ever_ take responsibility for your actions?"

"You think its irresponsible to try to fight the threats this world faces?" Tony asked. There was nothing soft about his tone. He moved closer to Aspen, glaring at her in a way Steve had never seen before.

"It is if you're just creating more threats," Aspen bit out at him. "Maybe _we're_ just as much a threat to the world as Ultron. You did create him. Now whatever damage he causes, whatever lives he takes – that's on us."

Tony opened his mouth to argue back, but Steve interrupted, putting an arm between them. "That's enough," he said firmly. Tony glared at him for a second before turning away. Aspen turned on her heels and left the room without another word.

"That was handled well," Rhodey said to Tony, sarcasm dripping off his words.

"We've wasted enough time," Steve said. "We need to get searching."

…

Glass crunched under Aspen's heels as she walked across the floor of the destroyed lounge. There were scorch marks on the walls, bits of glass strewn across the furniture, lamps overturned, couches charred. She felt a sob catch in her throat but shoved it back. Now wasn't the time for emotions. The lounge could be rebuilt. They had bigger concerns now. She walked over to one of the broken windows and gazed across the night city. It was probably nearing dawn, but she didn't feel sleepy, just mentally exhausted. Her argument with Tony had drained her and left her unsatisfied. He had selfishly defended himself instead of admitting his mistake. She wasn't even sure he saw that there was any mistake. His mention of the portal being the end game had jolted her though. She'd never considered that another incident like New York would ever happen again until she'd had her vision of the future when her mind had been melded with Modok's. What she'd seen… It had been exactly what Tony had described, and they hadn't won. They'd been unprepared for what had come for them. Maybe they _did_ need help defending the world, but Tony leapt headlong into whatever he thought was the best idea at the time. He didn't think ahead whatever he might say. He didn't think about the consequences of his actions or how they might affect others. He hadn't even thought to tell his team. Because they might have stopped him, Aspen realized. Instead of arguing with Steve and discussing the pros and cons of Ultron he'd simply bypassed them and gone ahead with his idea. She was surprised Bruce had gone along with it, but she supposed Tony could be convincing when he wanted to be.

For being a genius, he could be incredibly dim when it came to other people. At least Bruce had looked guilty. Tony hadn't felt a stab of guilt over what he'd done, Aspen was sure of that. Sometimes she had no idea how she put up with him. He was so selfish, so full of himself. Yet other times he could be generous and protective. She knew he hadn't meant to create something harmful, but he just didn't know when to stop. When there were nine out of ten chances something might go wrong, he focused on the one chance that it would go right. Taking risks like that was part of what had made Stark Industries so successful, but he wasn't working solo anymore.

"Hey." She hadn't even heard Steve approach. He came to stand next to her and, after a second, he reached out a hand and took hers.

"Has he come to his senses yet?" Aspen asked stiffly.

"Does he ever?" Steve sounded much calmer than she felt, but he had to lead the team. It wouldn't do for him and Tony to be at each other's throats.

"He treated me like a child in there," Aspen said. "Like my opinions didn't matter."

"He cares very much about your opinions," Steve told her. "I don't think he knew how to handle your anger. You usually get along well though you've never been afraid to call him on his mistakes."

"God, if Pepper was here she would have put an end to this nightmare before it even began," Aspen said with a sigh.

"You should try to get some sleep. Hopefully we'll have a lead on Ultron by morning."

"How can I sleep after all that?" Aspen asked, turning to Steve. "Knowing Ultron is out there somewhere."

"He's not getting anywhere near you tonight," Steve said, taking her other hand. Aspen leaned up and pressed her forehead to his. He leaned down to meet her, his long eyelashes brushing her brow.

"Maybe part of the reason I was so angry was that I _did_ sort of understand where Tony was coming from," she said softly. "I didn't want to admit it, but I have the same fear – the fear that some day we might not be enough."

"Were you thinking about what you saw?" Steve asked. "When you saw the future."

"Yeah. Yeah, I was."

"The future is a long ways off," Steve assured her.

"The future is tomorrow. A minute from now, a second. We don't know, Steve. That's what scares me so much. We don't know when it could happen."

"Then we prepare ourselves," he told her, pulling back to look her in the eye. He tipped her chin up with a finger. "We make ourselves ready."

"And if we get tired of being prepared? I can't live in constant fear of a future that might mean our end," Aspen said. "What if this is the beginning?"

"Ultron is just one malfunctioning robot," Steve told her. "He's not going to defeat us. We're going to find him before he does any more damage." Aspen nodded, trying to let his words reassure her. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Why does he hate us so much?" Aspen asked.

"He doesn't know us."

"But he does. He knows everything about us."

"That's not the same as knowing us. He's not human. He can't understand us on that level. I know you're thinking about the Hydra agent, but you aren't a killer. We've all taken lives but that doesn't define who we are."

"Sometimes I'm not sure who I am."

"You're an Avenger. You're one of the most compassionate people I know. You're the girl I'm in love with and the brightest part of my life."

"There was a time I refused to acknowledge myself as an Avenger. I thought it was too big a title, too much responsibility. I thought I'd made too many mistakes to be on a team of heroes. Now I realize none of us are perfect. We make mistakes. We try to do the best we can, but sometimes that fails. What matters is that we keep trying. So maybe Tony made a colossal mistake, but at least he tried. I saw the future and all I've done since is try to forget I ever saw it."

"It wasn't a fair burden for you to bear, but you don't have to bear it alone."

"Just promise me that whatever this is – if it's the future I saw or just another bump in the road – promise me we'll have enough time to be happy."

"I'm not going anywhere," Steve told her, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her. "And neither are you. Whether the future you saw, the future Tony fears, is going to happen tomorrow or in ten years, we don't know, but I don't believe it's set. You didn't see how it ended."

"I could see where it was going." They stood in silence for a long few minutes, Aspen listening to the steady beating of Steve's heart. Finally she pulled away. "I'm going to go talk to Tony," she said. "I don't want to be at odds. If we're going to work together as a team, we need to start acting like one again."

"I should go see where I can help," Steve said. He reluctantly let go of her and Aspen made her way toward the lab.

Tony was still there, poring over his tablet. He didn't hear her approach and jumped when she tapped his arm. He turned to look at her, eyes filled with an intent concentration. They softened when he saw it was her. Instead of speaking, she put her arms around him. He reciprocated the gesture after a second.

"Sorry," Aspen said softly.

"I kind of deserved it," Tony said, resting his chin on her head.

"Kind of?"

"Okay, I deserved it and tenfold. I'm sorry too. Sometimes I can't help being a mad scientist."

"But I get it. I really do. I don't totally agree with the robot thing and I'm still mad you didn't tell us, but I get why you wanted to create Ultron. Some day we might not be enough to protect Earth. Right now though, we're going to have to be enough."

"He caught us unaware. We'll be a step ahead of him this time," Tony said. "Okay, are we done hugging? This is getting awkward."

Aspen held on another second and then pulled away. "You're a total pain sometimes, but somehow I still love you."

"It's all part of the charm," he told her. "Do you think you could track the scepter?"

"I know what the energy feels like now, but it's far out of range. I could probably tell within a few miles, but that doesn't help us now. What's he after, Tony? What's his goal?"

"Besides our extinction? I don't know. He was supposed to be a peacekeeper."

"Well you wired something wrong."

"I didn't put him in that body."

"You still wired something wrong. Maybe you clicked the 'murder' trait instead of the 'peaceful' one."

"Yeah, maybe," Tony said, a small smile touching his lips.

"We'll fix this," Aspen assured him. "It's our job after all."

"We're not usually the ones making the threats," Tony said. His arrogant demeanor from earlier was gone, and Aspen could see the worry in his face.

"Well, like you said, we have to be ready because one day we might not be enough." She looked down at the remains of Ultron. She'd thought at first that he was gone, that Thor's hammer had crushed him and that it was over, but she'd quickly realized that Ultron wasn't so much a physical form but an idea, a _mind_ , that could escape through the internet. He was like a virus. It made it seem all the more impossible to find him, but she didn't doubt her team.

"You know I'm right," Tony said softly, and she could hear the vulnerability in his voice. It was something she very rarely heard in his voice, something he kept hidden deep inside. But she also knew it was the true him. He put on a front and staved off his emotions with ill-timed jokes and a nonchalant attitude, but Aspen knew there was more to him than that. She liked seeing the real Tony. She only wished he'd show himself more.

"I do. It's not that I don't believe in our team. More and more people with powers appear every day. Maybe we'll expand our group in the future, but it will never be enough. There will always be something bigger out there. Maybe it's selfish, but I don't want to see my friends die. Even if it's a heroic death…it doesn't make it any easier. I don't want to lose Steve. I _can't_ lose him. But I also know I can't stop him if our world is being threatened. He'd give his life in a second to save someone else. It's that willingness that scares me. You know what it's like to face your own mortality." She looked up at him. His brown eyes were intent, and she could almost see the portal reflected there, the darkness, the cold of space.

"I know what it's like," he agreed. "We can give everything we have to be the heroes the world thinks we are but what happens when we have nothing left to give? When does it end and what will we be at the end of it all?" He sighed. "I'm tired," he admitted. "Not of being Iron Man. Not of being part of the team. But I have Pepper too and lately I haven't had any time to give her. I destroyed all my suits so I could give her my time but here I am making more, back in the game. I can't stop. The world needs me to keep going."

"You're afraid of losing her."

"I feel like I have to chose between my own life and the world sometimes," Tony said. "And it's selfish, but we're human too. Sometimes we want what the rest of the world has."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"I'm not sure the rest of the team would understand," Tony said.

"They might understand more than you know," Aspen told him. "Maybe we're all too afraid to admit that sometimes we get tired too, that sometimes we want a day or two off from saving the world. It's so much responsibility. People get used to expecting us to be heroes. It does feel selfish to give that up if only just to have a break."

"Well we're not getting another day off any time soon," Tony said, grabbing his tablet. "Might as well get to work." Aspen turned to leave, but Tony called her back. "What we talked about – me taking a break from all this – can we keep it between us for now?" he asked. "I don't want the team to think I'm copping out."

"Of course. We should talk like this more often. I like seeing the side of you that isn't hidden behind your terrible jokes and cheesy one-liners."

"And I just _love_ your honesty," Tony said cheekily.

"Any time."


	27. Mind Games

**Author's Note:** Two chapters for you today since I'm so far ahead with my writing! Wish I could say that about my other fan fiction that I haven't updated in over a month... Whoops.

* * *

 **25 – Mind Games – May 3, 2015**

Aspen caught a few hours of sleep after Steve had insisted there was nothing more they could do that night. Dawn was already waking up New York, but Aspen buried her head below the blankets and dozed off, utterly exhausted by that night's catastrophe. She woke up to Steve gently shaking her shoulder.

"We've got something," he said. "Ultron's been all over the world in weapon's facilities and robotics labs. There've also been reports of someone too fast to see and people having their minds played with."

"The Maximoffs?" Aspen sat up, fully awake. "They're working with Ultron? But how?"

"Well, Ultron has the scepter and the twins experienced its powers firsthand. He also left us this message." He handed her his tablet. For a moment it didn't compute in her mind what she was seeing.

"Ultron killed Strucker." All that time they'd searched for him and now he was dead. The image caught Strucker, lying dead in his jail cell, and Ultron. The word 'peace' was written in blood on the concrete wall. "Why would he do that?"

"To send us a message."

"I'm still wrapping my mind around his hatred," Aspen said. "He's a robot. He shouldn't think like this…shouldn't act like this."

"Well he deleted all our files on Strucker," Steve said. "We're going through some boxes of SHIELD files, but I thought you'd want to be there if we found something."

"Give me ten minutes."

…

The team was gathered upstairs where they sometimes sat for discussions. File boxes sat on the long table and Thor was flinging box tops across the room before pulling files out. Aspen joined them, pulling a file from the nearest box.

"Why do we need to find something on Strucker?" she asked.

"We think that's why he killed Strucker," Natasha told her. "Strucker knew something Ultron didn't want us finding out about."

"You mean Strucker didn't confide his deepest secrets before getting arrested?"

Steve threw her a look that told her she wasn't helping. She flipped open the file she'd grabbed. "What are we looking for? This isn't about Strucker."

"These people have been known to have consorted with Strucker," Steve told her.

"There might be something that can help us figure out what Ultron's after," Tony added.

"They're all really horrible," Bruce intonated from where he sat looking through one of the SHIELD files.

"Typical." Aspen sat down, tossing the file aside and grabbing another one. This one was even worse. "These guys are like textbook villains," she said. "Where does Hydra even find them? Villains Unlimited?"

"Wait. I know that guy," Tony said, pointing to the file Bruce was holding. Bruce handed it over. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve turned to give Tony a disapproving look. "There are conventions, all right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything."

"You live the most interesting life," Aspen said, tipping her head back to look up at Tony.

"He was talking about finding something new…a game changer," Tony went on.

"This…" Thor pointed to something in one of the photos of the man. Aspen saw the name Ulysses Klaue printed above the photo. The man was rough looking with tattoos peeking out the collar of his shirt.

"It's a tattoo. I don't think he had it," Tony said.

"No, those are tattoos," Thor said. "This is a brand." He pointed to the mark on Klaue's neck.

Bruce pulled open his laptop and started typing. "Oh yeah," he said after a moment. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief' in a much less friendly way."

"That's pretty harsh. What'd he steal?" Aspen asked.

"What dialect?" Steve asked a second later.

"Wakanada…Wakanda," Bruce stumbled over the word. It wasn't a dialect Aspen had ever heard of. Apparently Steve and Tony had because they turned to each other, understanding in their eyes.

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…" Tony left the thought off.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it," Steve said.

"I don't follow," Bruce said, standing. Aspen didn't either. She pushed her chair around so she was facing Steve and Tony. "What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce asked.

Steve turned to look at his shield as Tony answered. "The strongest metal on Earth."

"Vibranium?" Aspen was following now. "Kraue stole vibranium? I thought it was also the rarest metal on Earth."

"It is rare but Wakanda is one of the places where it can be found. It's one of the most sought after items in the black market," Tony told her.

"So let me get this straight. Strucker was an associate of Kraue, Kraue deals in stolen vibranium. Ultron stole the scepter which, until recently, was in Strucker's hands. I'm not seeing the connection to Kraue and the vibranium though. Strucker had a lot of associates. What would Ultron want with Kraue if that's what you're getting at?"

"Ultron was in our files. He would have seen the connection," Tony said.

"So now Ultron wants the scepter _and_ vibranium?" Aspen thought it was a stretch.

"He was breaking into weapon's facilities. He's building something," Tony said. "This makes the most sense."

"Okay," Aspen said, holding up her hands in defeat. "If you're sure enough that you think it's worth going to Africa for."

"This is where we'll find him," Tony said.

"Where is this guy now?" Steve asked, turning back to Tony.

"South Africa. We'll find him on the coast. He's got a ship there he deals out of," Tony said, dropping the file onto the table.

"How do you know all this?" Aspen asked him, giving him a questioning lift of her eyebrow.

"You probably don't want to know."

"Probably not…"

"Suit up," Tony said. "We're heading out in fifteen minutes." He left the room, Thor and Natasha trailing after him.

"Well this sounds fun," Bruce said, shutting the laptop screen.

"You're part of the reason Ultron exists," Clint reminded him. "Not trying to be resentful, but…"

"I know, and I take full accountability for it," Bruce said. "Sometimes I let Tony talk me into these ideas of his…"

"That's when you tune him out and smile and nod," Aspen advised.

"If only it were that easy…"

…

It felt like a repeat of their last mission. Backtracking to recover what they'd just gotten back. Steve couldn't help the lingering resentment he was feeling toward Tony. He hoped his hunch about the vibranium was correct because the connection _was_ vague as Aspen had pointed out. They hadn't heard anything about a metal man or enhanced kids running around Africa, but he supposed that didn't mean he wasn't there. How Ultron had found another body, Steve had no idea. He'd nearly asked Tony, but he realized Tony had very few answers when it came to Ultron. He played it off like it would be a piece of cake taking Ultron down, but Steve knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Ultron had only killed those who had stood up against him during his raids, but that was still too many deaths on their hands. They might not have killed those people themselves but Tony had created Ultron and they were a team so the blood might as well be on their hands.

He could tell Aspen was nervous. They'd all been relieved that the mission was over, that Strucker was under lock and key, that the scepter was in their hands but now… Now the situation was somehow worse especially if Ultron had teamed up with the enhanced twins.

"Why would the Maximoffs team up with Ultron?" Steve asked Aspen, keeping his tone quiet. He didn't feel like listening to Tony's opinions right now.

"Ultron would have learned about them through the files. Even though we just met them like three days ago, we researched them. If I'm understanding Ultron correctly, he can figure all that out. He can infiltrate the internet, so he can basically learn anything. He seems to hate us and so do the Maximoffs for some reason, so I guess he might have thought them to be natural allies."

"So he went to Sokovia some time."

"Maybe that's where he got his new body although I would have thought everything would have been taken out of the castle."

"I still don't understand his motive." He was a robot. He wasn't supposed to have motives.

"Peace."

"That was Tony's motive. It didn't work out so well, remember?"

"Peace is a perspective," Aspen continued. "Your idea of peace and someone else's might be totally different. Hydra believes eliminating anyone inferior to them would be peace. We believe eliminating Hydra would be peace. Ultron clearly believes eliminating us would mean peace. He knows everything about us – he knows we have differing views, that we argue sometimes, that we don't always work well as a team. He sees this as a flaw. Maybe he sees humanity as a flaw too. Maybe instead of trying to create peace by saving others he thinks he needs to eliminate everyone who threatens that peace. It's his version of Project Insight."

"That's not something we want to relive. Those are good points." Aspen always had a way of seeing the clarity of a situation.

"I think Tony succeeded in a way," Aspen said. "Ultron _is_ a peacekeeping program but his perception of humanity is flawed. He learned everything about it from the internet, from our files, from whatever data he could get his hands on in our Tower. That's a lot to take in all at once. He hasn't had time to understand how humanity works, how it's flawed and imperfect but how peace can still be possible. He sees it as a stain that needs to be removed. In order to achieve peace, he thinks he needs to eliminate those causing the discord altogether."

"He's not powerful enough to do that."

"Not on his own but he's got help and he's clearly looking for some sort of weapon that can help him achieve this goal."

"Then we need to stop him before he does."

"That could be tricky considering he knows everything about us. We're predictable now."

"Not you," Steve told her. "You push your limitations every time you use your powers. You can surprise him."

"But he's not alone and the enhanced girl nearly overpowered me before. She got her powers from the scepter. She's strong and she's trained."

"So are you."

"We're here," Tony's voice broke into their conversation. Steve glanced out the front window of the jet. Tony was setting down at the edge of a salvage yard between the swaying branches of the jungle trees. The ships themselves were run aground, hulking pieces of rusting metal that occupied the yard. He hoped to see some sign of Ultron but all was quiet. It was a lonely and desolate place – perfect for a smuggler to hide. They left the jet like they had last time, leaving Bruce in case they needed a code green but hoping they didn't.

"Churchill," Tony had told them. They were looking for a ship called 'Churchill.'

It looked similar to the rest of the ships, hull half buried in sand. The ocean's tides lapped over the saturated sand, and their feet sunk in as they walked. Barnacles had overtaken the bottom layers of the boat, decorating it like wallpaper. A metal ladder led upward, and Tony nodded toward it. "Meet you there," he said before flying upward. Thor flew after him. Aspen walked past Steve, climbing up first. Steve followed with Natasha and Clint behind.

"What's the plan?" Steve asked.

"We don't even know if Ultron is here," Aspen said from above him.

" _He's here. I'm picking up on his readings,_ " Tony replied in the comm.

Aspen paused for a second. "The enhanced are here too," she said, resuming her climbing. "I can sense them."

" _Barton, Romanoff, Aspen, you come in quietly. See if you can avoid detection for awhile. Thor, Cap, and I are coming head on. If Ultron takes after me at all he'll like to hear himself talk. We can keep him distracted._ "

"If Ultron's anything like you, we're doomed," Aspen muttered.

They reached the deck of the ship, stepping soundlessly up over the metal rim. It creaked and groaned with the humble breeze, and Steve had to admit it was the perfect place for a black market vibranium business. Tony appeared, hovering over them.

" _This way._ " They followed him toward a door and Aspen saw two guards lying unconscious on the deck. " _Thor, Cap, with me. The rest of you scatter once we get in. Keep to the shadows._ "

Steve followed Thor through the door that led down into the ship, giving Aspen a nod as she moved off with Clint and Natasha. They disappeared like shadows, and Steve, Tony, and Thor were left to meet Ultron head on. A scream of pain cut the silence. Then they could hear Ultron speaking "It's a thing with me. Stark is…he's a _sickness_ ," Ultron was saying passionately. They hurried ahead, entering the hull of the ship and coming to a stop. Ultron stood there across from them, new body a hulking shell of metal with red eyes.

"Ah, Junior," Tony said, landing with a clank in front of Steve and Thor. Ultron turned to face him. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to," Ultron said. The Maximoff twins stood at his side. Steve's eyes darted between them, but they made no move to leave Ultron's side. He wondered what he had offered them.

"You don't have to break anything," Thor said as Ultron stepped forward toward them.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet," Ultron intoned, his words sarcastic.

"He beat me by one second," Tony said. Steve tried hard not to roll his eyes. If Ultron had gotten his sense of humor from Tony then they really _were_ in trouble.

"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark." The enhanced boy, Pietro spoke up, striding forward. There was a sort of arrogance to his step. The way he said 'Stark' implied he knew exactly who Tony was. "It's what…comfortable? Like old times?" His eyes shifted toward the left, and Steve saw a row of missiles sitting there. He looked at Tony, gauging his expression.

"This was never my life," Tony said, following Pietro's gaze.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve said, stepping forward and looking at the twins. Wanda met his gaze.

"Oh we will," she told him. She made no move to leave Ultron's side.

Steve didn't know if there was any way of convincing them, but he had to try. "I know you've suffered…"

He cut off as Ultron made a disgusted sound. "Ah, Captain America," he said, drawing Steve's eyes to him. "God's _righteous_ man. Pretending you could live without a war." Steve stiffened. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-"

"If you believe in peace then let us keep it," Thor interrupted.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet," Ultron told him.

"Yeah huh. What's the vibranium for?" Tony asked, cutting off Ultron's jabs.

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Before any of them could move, Ultron held out his hand, a sort of energy vibrating through the air in front of him, and Tony's suit was pulled toward him. Ultron sent a surge of power similar to Tony's repulsor rays straight at him sending him flying backwards into the wall. Tony was down for a second then taking off into the air to charge Ultron and like that the fight began. More metal beings appeared suddenly, clones of Ultron though they did not speak. One threw itself at Steve, grabbing him by his neck and thrusting him toward the railing. Steve beat it back with his shield and turned to face Wanda. She sent a pulse of red energy at him, and he flew back, tumbling a few times before regaining his feet. As the attack continued, the sound of gunfire split the air. It seemed like Kraue's men didn't want them there either. An arrow flew toward the nearest shooter, and Steve saw Clint up on the catwalk, bow notched. He gave Steve a small nod to let him know he had his back, and Steve turned back to the fight. The Ultron sentinels were persistent and one shot at Steve who blocked with his shield while the other battled with Thor. Tony and Ultron were locked in a fight above them. Steve threw his shield at another of Ultron's sentries. The second the shield left his hand, something struck out at him, catching him in the chin and knocking him onto his back. He lay, stunned, for a moment before realizing that it must have been the enhanced boy moving too quickly for his eyes to see.

The Ultron sentry he'd been aiming for had caught his shield and brought it toward him. Steve leapt up and grabbed the shield, using the momentum to swing himself around and dig the shield into the robot's neck. Thor swung his hammer, disconnecting the head from the body. In a quick turn, Steve threw his shield at the three gunmen who'd entered the room, knocking them all out before they had the chance to fire. Catching his shield he leapt down to where the enhanced boy had collapsed after trying to catch Mjolnir. As Pietro tried to get up, Steve pushed him back down with his shield.

"Stay down, kid," he warned before turning back to the fight. He saw Ultron speaking to Wanda. Her hands were burning with red energy but she moved off away from Ultron. "Thor, status?" Steve asked into the comm.

" _The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay_ ," Thor replied, moving off along the catwalk.

Steve had other problems to worry about right now. Two of Klaue's men ran at him, and he knocked his shield into one's head and grabbed the other one, tossing him across the room. Something hard hit him and he found himself flying backwards into a flight of metal stairs. He cried out in pain as his back hit. Clearly the enhanced boy hadn't listened to him when he'd advised him to stay down. Before he got the chance to recover, the girl was there. She flicked her fingers and suddenly his mind was in agony. He couldn't shake the pain, couldn't fight off whatever she had done to him. Finally he managed to get to his feet, pulling his helmet from his head and dropping it. His fingers felt numb, and as he looked around him the scene changed. The hull of the ship was transformed into a dance hall with round tables taking up most of the floor. He was no longer dressed in his suit but in his old military uniform. A band played a lively tune on the stage at the end of the room and banners proclaiming 'victory' hung overhead. The lights were low, the chandeliers and Chinese lanterns hanging above him dim, and each cloth-covered table had it's own lamp. Couples were laughing and dancing and a photographer was snapping shots. Steve winced against the bright and sudden light of the flashbulb as he passed down the middle of the room. Another camera went off to his right and he ducked away from it. Everything was harsh and loud and his head was still pulsing. Couples swung each other around to the music and two men shoved each other to the side in some dispute. To his left a man patted his friend's uniform where he'd spilled his wine. It looked like blood, and Steve turned away to see the arguing men being waylaid by the military police. Who were these people?

There was more space for dancing closer to the stage and Steve hesitated at the very edge wondering why he was there. Someone brushed a hand against his arm, and he turned to find himself staring at the last person he'd expected to see. "Are you ready for our dance?" Peggy Carter asked. Her eyes were luminous in the low lighting, and she was dressed in blue with a corsage of flowers on the collar. A million thoughts rushed through his head. This wasn't a memory so was it a dream? Steve turned back to look at the dancing people. Everything felt so real. He was here in this dance hall but yet how could he be?

"The war is over, Steve," Peggy said, her voice hopeful. "We can go home now." He turned to look at her and the hope in her eyes killed him. "Imagine it."

He could. This was the life he'd wanted, the life he'd been denied. What if he'd come back from war and made his date with Peggy? He wanted to fold her into his arms and never let her go. They could have their dance even if this wasn't real, even if it couldn't last. In a blink the room was empty. Steve turned around, but he was alone.

"You shouldn't let a dame like that go."

Steve hadn't been prepared to hear that voice. The pain he'd been feeling doubled as he turned to find Bucky standing a few feet away, dressed in his crisp military uniform, hair neatly combed.

"Bucky?" His voice sounded strangled as he spoke his friend's name.

"You don't meet a girl like that every day," Bucky went on as if nothing was wrong.

"You're not supposed to be here."

"Of course I'm supposed to be here," Bucky told him, stepping forward and gripping Steve's shoulder. "I'm with you til the end of the line, Pal. No go dance with your girl." He gave Steve a little shove and suddenly Peggy was in his arms. People were dancing around them and the music played softly in the background. As Peggy twirled into his arms, Steve let himself imagine, just for a moment, that this was real.

…

Aspen made her way along the catwalk, keeping an eye out for anyone. She, Clint, and Natasha had split up, making their way through the shadows. All was quiet until a scream split the air. Aspen darted toward the sound, trying to keep her feet as light as possible on the metal flooring. She stopped short and shrunk back into the wall as three armed men went running past. They didn't look her way though, and she followed after them. They were headed down a set of stairs, but Aspen hesitated, her ears picking up on voices up ahead. She recognized Tony's voice and snuck forward. Ultron stood with the Maximoff twins. Thor, Tony, and Steve stood across from them, a metal bridge separating them. Aspen wanted to join them but she kept back. She wondered if Wanda could sense her or if her powers even worked like that. As Ultron continued to speak, a sound behind her caught her attention. She glanced back at Ultron, but he was still talking, so she moved toward the sound.

In the metal ship, sounds echoed and reverberated around like un-departed souls. Aspen crept silently, quieting her own breathing so she could find the source of the sound. There was a clank to her right and she turned down another passage. Behind her she heard a crash and then sounds of a fight. She turned her head for just a second. In that second something metal and hard hit her, knocking her down. She looked up to find a metal robot pinning her to the floor. It looked like a smaller version of Ultron, and it had clearly inherited his psychosis. She struggled, but it was stronger than her. She aimed a wave of energy at it and sent it flying across the tunnel. It hit the wall and broke into pieces. Before she had time to recover, two more bots came at her. Aspen put up a shield and sent them flying into each other. She then crushed them down until oil poured from their crumpled bodies. She heard footsteps coming down the hall and ran toward them, powers ready. When she turned the corner, however, she was met by three gunmen. She threw herself behind the wall as they fired straight at her. Why did everyone want to kill them? Aspen took a deep breath and focused her powers. Three guns came flying around the corner into her hands. She tossed them aside and spun around the corner, flinging out her powers as she did. The men flew up and hit the low ceiling, dropping, unconscious, to the floor. Aspen started sprinting toward the room where she'd left her team, forgoing stealth altogether. Before she got far, something grabbed onto her mind, gripping her tightly. Her knees locked and she fell to the floor, the metal bruising her where she hit. She felt like she was suffocating. She hadn't been prepared. She spun around to face her foe but instead found herself standing in the front yard of a very familiar house.

The Sunflower House, her childhood home, stood just like she remembered it. The aspen tree in the front yard was flourishing and the yellow paint on the house was glossy with sunlight. The swing on the front porch was occupied.

"Aspen? Is that you?" Aspen's mother rose, coming to greet her daughter. "How was the drive?"

"Drive?" Aspen asked blankly.

"The drive home from university. Was traffic heavy with all the other students coming home for break?"

"No," Aspen said weakly. "Where's Dad?" she asked it on a whim. Whatever this was, it wasn't reality.

"He's in the garage working on the car again," Ava said with a smile. Aspen's breath froze.

"I need to go see him," she whispered.

"Of course, honey. I've got some cookies in the oven. I'm going to go see if they're ready." Ava pulled Aspen into a hug, kissing her forehead. "I'm glad you're home."

"Me too."

As Aspen entered the garage, she heard the telltale clanking of tools. Her dad was bent over the engine of a classic Mustang. "Dad?"

Her dad rose up from the engine, grabbing a cloth to wipe the grease from his hands. "Penny? Is that you?" He moved around the car and Aspen's breath caught. He was just like she remembered only less weary. This wasn't possible though. She had seen him die.

"Yeah, it's me." Then, ignoring the grease stains on his shirt, Aspen threw her arms around him.

He gave a surprised laugh. "The grease," he said, but Aspen didn't care.

"I missed you, Daddy." She held onto him tightly, afraid the image would fade. It didn't.

"I missed you too. Dorm mates not up to par?" he asked.

"No," Aspen said. She pulled away.

"I'll be done in a minute. Why don't you go see if those cookies are ready?" her dad suggested. Aspen nodded, turning away before he could see the tears in her eyes. She wiped them away before entering the house.

She hadn't seen it like this since she was a child – intact, clean, lived in. The smell of cookies permeated the air, and she breathed in deeply. The living room was filled with sunlight and pictures of her and her parents lined the walls and the fireplace mantle. She walked over and picked up a photo of her graduating high school. Both her parents were next to her and her Aunt Vi stood off to the side, beaming and proud. None of them looked tired. None of them looked like they'd ever had a bad thing happen to them in their lives. She turned to the next photo. In this one she was moving into college, wearing a University of Portland T-shirt. She wondered what she was studying. There were no signs of the secret lives her parents had lived, no signs that anything tragic had ever happened here.

"Cookies are ready," her mom said, bringing a plateful into the living room and setting them down on the coffee table.

"Mom, can I ask you something?" Aspen asked.

"Sure, honey. Anything."

"Have you ever heard of the Superhero Serum?"

Her mom's brow furrowed in confusion. "No. Is that a new band?" Aspen's breath caught. There was no lie in her mom's eyes. She couldn't sense the serum in her blood, she realized. She was normal.

"Just this thing I learned about in school. Nothing important," she said.

"Well superheroes are definitely a hot topic after the incident in New York," her mom said.

"New York?" Aspen froze.

"Remember last May?"

"Of course…"

"It's still so tragic how they didn't all make it out."

"Who didn't all make it out?" Aspen asked.

"The Avengers. They lost the man they call Captain America. It was all over the news, remember?"

Aspen's ears were ringing and she dropped into the chair behind her. She heard her mom saying her name, but Aspen couldn't move. "He died?" she asked. The world was blurry and she realized her eyes had welled up. Her mom was looking at her in concern.

"Oh honey, it was a year ago now. I didn't realize it would upset you to talk about it." Ava looked a little helpless. "He saved a lot of lives."

"I need some fresh air," Aspen told her mom. "I'll just be a minute." She got up and blindly made her way to the front door, thrusting it open. She was met with a blast of cold air. Snowflakes dappled her hair and eyelashes, and she shivered against the cold. She turned back but her house was gone, replaced by a forest that seemed to have no end. She turned around again and found herself facing a stark room with a metal cot. It was familiar, like something out of a nightmare, and she realized too late exactly what it was. The door slammed shut behind her and she heard a familiar voice, back from the dead.

"This will go much easier if you cooperate, Aspen. Imagine what the world could do with powers like yours." Doctor Rinehart was holding a scalpel that glinted wickedly under the harsh lights. Aspen tried the door but it was locked. Something cut her arm and she fell backwards, tripping over the cot. She fell flat on her back and suddenly she was tied down. Doctor Rinehart loomed over her, sharp metal hovering over Aspen's head. She sunk a needle into her arm, and Aspen started to feel drowsy. "This won't hurt a bit," Doctor Rinehart said as she touched the tip of the scalpel to Aspen's head. "Just don't move."

…

The dance was everything and yet Steve knew it couldn't last. Peggy was a part of his past and as much as he missed her, he had left that life behind. He'd moved on. He heard a loud noise behind him and suddenly Peggy was gone from his arms. He was looking down a mountain, feet positioned at the very edge. A cool, winter wind nipped and bit at his skin, and his feet sunk down into the layer of snow. He looked behind him and saw a track running along the mountainside, treacherously close to the edge. He knew where this was leading even before he saw the train. He tried to close his eyes against it, but he couldn't look away. He heard a scream and saw Bucky falling from the side of the train, hand reached out toward Steve's.

"You could have saved me." Steve turned to find Bucky standing there on the now empty train track. He was as Steve had last seen him, the Winter Soldier. His metal arm was frosted over, the red star glinting on the shoulder. "If only you reached a little further. Why didn't you reach further?" He took a step forward, pale blue eyes narrowed with repressed anger.

"I'm sorry, Bucky. I'm so sorry." Steve wanted to grab his friend, hold him close so that he'd never lose him again but already the vision was beginning to fade. He woke up lying flat on his back, his forehead covered in a sheen of sweat. He was trembling, he realized. His mind was still thick with the images, with the memories, and he could no longer remember what was real. He saw Clint coming toward him, half carrying Natasha who looked just as wretched as Steve felt. Thor stumbled toward them, his blue eyes distant.

"Where's Pen?" Clint asked. When no one answered he said, "Tony is dealing with a situation. Are any of you okay?" He carefully sat Natasha down on a crate and came over to Steve, holding out a hand. Steve took it, and Clint helped pull him to his feet. Steve shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts but it was as if the enhanced girl was still inside, burrowed in deep where the pain lay buried.

Clint let out a curse and turned back to Natasha. "You take care of her," he told Steve. He grabbed Steve's arm and pulled him over to where Natasha sat looking dazed. "You look out for her. I'm going to go look for Pen."

Steve nodded, hardly registering Clint's words. Watch out for Natasha. He sat down next to her. She was staring straight ahead, still seeing whatever nightmares Wanda had forced into her head – or perhaps they'd already been there and she'd merely reawakened them. Steve reached out to touch her hand and she jumped as if she hadn't known he was there. His head was feeling a little clearer now and he asked, "Are you okay?" knowing the answer already. She shook her head. "Me neither."

…

When Aspen awoke she screamed. Someone was grabbing onto her arms and she sent out a burst of energy. " _Shit!_ " someone cried out, dropping to the floor beside her. "It's me, Aspen. It's Clint."

"Clint?" Aspen was shaking, tears running down her cheeks. She couldn't seem to catch her breath and it came out in short bursts. She saw Clint now, kneeling next to her. He didn't say anything more, just pulled her into his arms and held her while she sobbed into his shoulder.

"She made me see things," Aspen said. "She got inside my head."

"I know. She did the same to Steve and Nat and Thor," Clint told her. "They're pretty shaken."

"You?"

"No. I got lucky. Can you move?" Aspen nodded, and Clint helped her to her feet, putting an arm around her. "Tony's in trouble. The girl got to Bruce. Hulk is rampaging in the city."

"What?" Aspen's mind was still muddled but she registered the words 'Hulk' and 'rampaging.'

"Yeah. It's not looking good. We weren't ready."

"I should have known she could do that. She tried to do it to me in Sokovia – take over my mind. I should have been there." She was the only one who could fight off mental abilities like that. She should have known the enhanced girl would fight like that.

"It's not your fault. Don't do that to yourself. You're stronger than her. She doesn't get to mess with you like that." They'd reached the hull of the ship and Aspen saw Steve sitting with Natasha, both looking fazed. Thor looked unsettled too. "Okay, we're not fighting anyone anytime soon," Clint said, taking one look at the remainder of the team. "Let's get back to the jet. Tony's gonna have to calm down Bruce by himself."

Steve glanced up at them and then got to his feet, offering Natasha a hand. She stared at it for a moment before accepting it and letting him pull her up. He kept a hand at her elbow as they all found their way out of the ship and out onto the beach. Aspen felt as if every bit of energy had been sapped from her. She listened for strains of disaster, but they were too far away from the city to hear. Her heart went out to Bruce. She knew the guilt he would feel after this was over even if it wasn't his fault. He'd finally been starting to feel like a part of the team, starting to believe the Hulk could be a force for good. He wouldn't feel that way after today.

Aspen sunk into one of the seats on the jet, Steve sitting across from her. His eyes were distant, and she wondered what he had seen. She didn't ask though because she didn't want to talk about what she'd seen. If she talked about it then she'd have to relive it again, and she couldn't do that.

They sat in silence until the sun was starting to fade and Tony arrived with Bruce. They wordlessly entered the jet, and Tony grabbed a blanket for Bruce whose shirt had torn off in the transformation. Bruce took it and sunk down onto the floor at the back of the jet, pulling the blanket around him as if it could shield him from the world. Clint took the pilot's seat and took off, leaving South Africa and the destruction they had wrought behind. Steve shut his eyes for a moment, the pain clearly written on his face. Had he seen Bucky? Had he relived his worst memories?

She couldn't stop thinking about the utopia she'd first awoken in. Her mom and dad both still alive and seemingly uninvolved with scientific projects or SHIELD. But Steve had been dead in that reality. He'd died in New York during the battle, and she hadn't been there to save him. No reality was a utopia if he was dead.

Shivering, she pulled her knees up to her chin and huddled in the seat, letting the motion of the jet lull her into a light sleep. When she woke up, Clint was landing the jet, and the sun was rising.

"Where are we?" she asked. The memories from the day before still lingered but she found it didn't hurt so badly. The rest of the team with the exception of Bruce looked better. Clint turned to look at her.

"A safe house," he said simply.

They filed off the jet, still dressed for their mission, tired and shaken. As Aspen began to take in her surroundings, she realized that they were in the country. Tall grass waved in the morning breeze all around them and rickety wooden fences ran along a driveway. A two-story farmhouse stood ahead of them. Aspen realized with a jolt that this must be where Clint came when he wasn't at the Tower. She couldn't blame him – it was beautiful and peaceful here. Clint opened the door calling out, "Honey, I'm home."

Aspen thought for a moment he must be calling out to Lucky or maybe he had an AI like Jarvis. When a woman walked out of the kitchen, Aspen could only stare. Clint walked forward and put an arm around her. He glanced at Aspen and there was something cautious in his eyes.

"This is my wife," he said to his team. "This is Laura."


	28. The Secret Life of Hawkeye

**26 – The Secret Life of Hawkeye – May 4, 2015**

Aspen could only stand and stare at the woman Clint was claiming was his wife. Clint _married?_ Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye _married?_ Aspen couldn't process this before two small beings came running forward to grab Clint in a hug. Kids. He had kids. Aspen was torn between surprise and hurt, but her foremost thought was that he had _lied_ to her. Clint had omitted the very important detail of being _married_ with _kids_. In all the years she'd known him… The kids were older. He'd definitely had them when they'd first met. People were talking around her, but she didn't hear a word of it. Steve was giving her a worried look from where he stood next to Thor. Clint glanced at her, his brow furrowed.

"I need some air," Aspen said. Everyone watched as she ran out the front door, but she didn't stop, didn't give any apology. The screen door slammed shut after her, but she didn't stop running until she was across the yard. A wooden swing hung from the low-hanging branch of one of the trees, and she dropped onto it. She heard footsteps a few minutes later and expected Steve had followed her, but it was Clint. She turned away, staring straight ahead.

"All the years we've known each other and it hasn't once occurred to you to tell me that you have a wife and kids?" Aspen asked.

"I know. I know, Pen. I was trying to keep them safe," he said with a long sigh.

"From who? From _me?_ I wouldn't have told a soul," she said angrily.

"Not from you," Clint said, coming around the front of the swing. "From Hydra, from the Circus of Crime, from anyone who had a bone to pick with me. It was just easier keeping it a secret from everyone. Fury helped me set this up when I joined SHIELD."

"I thought _I_ was your family," Aspen said softly, voicing what had really been bothering her. It was selfish and childish, she knew, but Clint was like family and family didn't lie like this. She thought she was more important to him than that.

"You are. Of course you are, Pen. You don't mean any less to me just because I have them too. I can care about more than three people."

Aspen took a deep breath. The last few days had been overwhelming and she wasn't feeling emotionally capable of handling any more surprises. She realized she wasn't being fair to Clint's family, but then she thought of how they probably knew all about her and she knew nothing about them. "I just wish you could have told me," she said.

"I know. I'm sorry, Pen. I should have. I guess I was just so used to keeping it a secret and it never seemed a good time to tell you. Once we got to be friends, once we earned each other's trust. But I guess it seemed more impossible the longer I waited."

Aspen was silent. Clint's words struck a cord with her. He wasn't the only one keeping secrets. She understood better than anyone how it only got more difficult to tell the truth. "I do understand why you kept it a secret."

"Pen, you are like a daughter or little sister to me. I love you like family, and I hope you know that." She could tell how hard Clint was trying to make amends. It didn't make up for the lies, but it was a start. "Will you at least meet them? They've been dying to meet you."

"What are their names?" Aspen asked. "Your kids?"

"Cooper and Lila."

"I never pegged you for a dad," Aspen said. "No offense, just…"

"I know, I know. I don't really exude that wise fatherly figure," Clint said with a chuckle.

"I just pictured you more of the hard-on-his luck bachelor."

Clint snorted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Any time."

"So will you come in and meet them?" Clint asked.

Aspen nodded, but she suddenly felt shy. Her sudden departure had not been very mature. "I probably made a fool of myself," she said.

"After all we've been through. After yesterday." Clint shook his head. "Everyone understands." He held out his hand like a peace offering and she decided to take it.

When they reentered the house, Aspen found that Thor and Steve were missing. "You're not the only one who needed fresh air," Clint told her. Natasha was chatting with Clint's little girl. Bruce sat on the couch looking vaguely uncomfortable. Tony was hovering in the doorway looking uncertain. None of them had expected this.

Laura was looking hesitant, standing in the kitchen next to where the kettle was warming up on the stove. Clint nudged Aspen's arm, and Aspen stepped toward the kitchen. "Hi," she said. "I'm sorry I ran out like that. I guess I was just surprised."

"I understand," Laura said, smiling. "I wish things could have been different. I feel like you're already part of the family."

"I want to be." As Laura moved around the counter, Aspen started. She was _pregnant_. "You're expecting?"

Laura touched her round stomach. "A boy," she said.

"I'm happy for you," Aspen said, looking between Clint and Laura. "I mean it." On a whim, she reached forward and hugged Laura. The woman hugged her back.

"Let me introduce you to the kids," Clint said, pulling Aspen over to where they were showing Natasha their artwork.

"Cooper, Lila, this is Aspen."

"Hi," Aspen said shyly.

"Hello." The little girl handed Aspen one of her drawings. It was of a girl wearing a cape. The girl had red hair.

"That's you," Lila said.

Aspen stared down at the drawing, speechless. "Wow, thank you," she said. "Can I keep it?" The girl nodded, and Aspen smiled.

Clint introduced his son, and Aspen felt her initial tension melting away. The kettle reached boiling and Laura began pulling mugs from the cupboard. Clint went to help her.

"I take it you knew about this," Aspen said to Natasha after the kids had moved off.

Natasha nodded. "Sorry," she said. "You know we didn't mean to keep it a secret from you."

"I know. It makes sense that you would know. I mean, you and Clint go way back. I'm glad he had someone to share this with." She looked around, hoping Steve would come back, but he and Thor were still absent.

"Steve went outside. I think he's still shaken after…after yesterday," Natasha told her, following her gaze.

"I should go find him," Aspen said.

She slipped out of the house again, standing on the porch for a moment to look around for Steve. When she couldn't find him, she reached out her senses, looking for his familiar presence. He was somewhere behind the house and she set off, climbing over the low wooden fence and walking through a meadow. She heard a creek trickling quietly in the distance. Steve stood at its edge, staring off into the distance. Trees lined the bank on the other side, and birds were chattering within them. Steve didn't turn around when she approached. His shield was still strapped to his back, and he looked weary in a way that went beyond physical. Aspen stepped forward to stand by his side.

"I saw Peggy," he said. "And Bucky." He didn't need to tell her he was talking about his vision. She knew it was still weighting heavily on him. She could see the emotion in his eyes as he gazed ahead.

"Memories or nightmares?" she asked softly.

"A little of both. One was the life I could have had if things had turned out differently in the war. The other…" He closed his eyes as if trying to block out the memories.

"You don't have to talk about it."

"It's all right. I want to talk about it with you. The other was the memory of Bucky falling. He was there though, standing with me as I watched him fall. He kept asking me why I hadn't reached a little further, why I hadn't saved him…" His voice was tight with pain that would never really go away even though he knew Bucky had survived the fall. It was something that he lived with everyday, but he usually kept those emotions locked tightly away where they couldn't get in the way of being an Avenger. Aspen had tried to tell him that it was okay to let his own emotions escape every once in awhile, but he was always the soldier, always looking out for everyone else before himself.

"She knew just how to take us down," she said. "Knew just what memories would bring us to our knees."

"Do you want to talk about what you saw?" Steve turned to look at her, eyes dark with emotion. It was the first time she'd really seem him let himself feel his own pain, and it reminded her that it was always there even if she couldn't see it.

"I saw home. I saw my parents. I saw the life that might have been if the Superhero Serum had never existed." She took a deep breath. "But you were gone. You died in New York during the invasion." Steve was quiet, letting her speak. "The vision shifted and I was reliving my worst memories of Doctor Rinehart. It was so real…"

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to relive that."

"She's dead. She shouldn't be able to still scare me, but she does."

They stood in silence for a long moment, taking in the stillness of the farm. After the last few days, it was everything Aspen needed.

"Did you know about Clint?" Steve asked, breaking the silence. He turned to look back at the house.

"No."

"That must have been a shock for you. I know it was for the rest of us. I never would have even suspected."

"Me neither. It really hurt at first to realize he'd been keeping something that important from me, _someone_ that important. But I understand why he did it. We'll do anything to keep the ones we love safe, even lie to friends if we have to."

"In my vision – the one with Peggy, she told me we could go home. That the war was over and we could go home… I guess it just hit me hard coming here and seeing that somehow, even in this crazy life, Clint had that. He has a home. He has a family. It should be impossible but here it is."

"You're afraid you'll never have that."

"I'm afraid _we'll_ never have that." He turned his eyes to her and they were filled with longing now.

"We don't know that. We don't know what the future will hold." Aspen reached out and touched his hand. "But I do know we can't give up hoping. Maybe this is a sign – maybe this is proof that we can have what Clint has. Okay, maybe minus the two going on three kids, but a life that's normal. Even if it's part of the time. It's still something." Steve nodded, still looking uncertain.

"I'd like that."

"Let's go inside," Aspen said, nodding her head toward the house. "Laura made tea, and I think we could both use a distraction."

Steve let her lead him back, setting his shield inside the front door before entering the living room. Natasha, Clint, Laura, and Bruce were seated, Natasha surrounded by Clint's kids. Tony was still leaning against the wall, cup of tea held between both his hands like a comfort object. His eyes flitted to Steve as he and Aspen walked in.

"Plenty of room," Clint said, motioning for them to take a seat on the couch next to Bruce. Two mugs of tea sat on the coffee table for them, and Aspen drank hers appreciatively.

"Everything okay?" Clint asked.

"Yeah," Aspen replied. "Yeah, it's just been a really long few days."

"Whenever you want to get some rest, the bed is made in the guest bedroom," Laura said kindly.

"Thank you." Sleep did sound good but Aspen wasn't sure she wanted to fall asleep. Sleep meant dreams and dreams sometimes turned into nightmares. It was early morning anyway and she felt like she should stay awake longer. They had a lot to figure out.

They talked for awhile but no one really had any ideas. Eventually everyone decided they needed a distraction more than anything. Planning could come later when they had some idea of how to continue on. For now they just needed to recover. Steve changed out of his uniform and he and Tony volunteered to chop some wood for the Bartons' fireplace. Clint took Cooper and Lila out to the front porch to work on the railing there and Natasha said something about taking a shower.

Aspen changed into some of the clothes she had on the jet: jeans, a worn T-shirt, and a sweatshirt she'd stolen from Steve that was a few sizes too big but smelled like him. She sat on the porch with Clint watching Steve and Tony chop lumber, Steve's pile growing twice as fast as Tony's.

"How are you holding up?" Clint asked, casting a glance at her. She was huddled there, hands buried deep in the pockets of the sweatshirt.

"I'm okay," she told him. She felt safer than she had in the last few days but also restless because she knew they couldn't stay in this sanctuary forever. Eventually they'd have to leave and go off to face their problems. It was their responsibility after all, their problem. They couldn't hide here and hope it went away. "I see why you have this place here, why you call it a safe house," she said. "It's lovely and quiet."

"I should have brought you with me," Clint said.

"It's okay. I might not have wanted to leave," she told him with a wistful smile. "It's like a world apart."

"You're welcome any time. After this is all over."

"I'm just glad you have it. That you have your family. Everyone deserves to have that. Especially you. You deserve it. You made me feel like I had family even when I had nothing."

"You're part of my family, Pen. You have a big family that cares about you very much. Don't ever doubt that." Clint put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe some day you'll have a family of your own too." He looked over to where Steve was talking to Tony.

"That seems like something far off in the future," Aspen said. "I still feel like a child half the time. I still feel this need to be loved and to be cared for despite so many years of taking care of myself."

"We all need that," Clint assured her. "You're not a child anymore. Them, however…" His eyes were set on Steve and Tony and Aspen glanced up just in time to see Steve rip a log in half with his bare hands.

"Oh God, what now?" she asked. Tony and Steve looked tense, eyes flashing. "I can't leave them alone for five seconds, I swear."

She was about to get up and intercede, but Laura came to the rescue, walking up and asking Tony something. With one more glare at Steve, Tony turned and headed toward the barn. "He's all yours," Clint said, patting Aspen's shoulder and turning to pick up Lila. He and his kids went back inside, and Aspen got up and made her way over to Steve.

"Stressful wood-chopping session?" she asked casually, kicking a piece of lumber back into Tony's woeful looking pile. "You'd think wielding an axe so close to Tony would be good stress relief."

"It's just…it's been a long day." He let out a long breath.

"I think we all feel that way. Tensions are high. Tony is aggravating. I get it."

"I just didn't think my team was keeping so many secrets," Steve said. "Thor's off trying to figure out more about whatever vision he had, but I have no idea when he'll be back."

"Well I'm not keeping secrets and I never will from you," she said.

"I appreciate that. I'd never keep anything from you either."

"Hey, why don't we try to distract ourselves? Just for a little while before we have to go back and face the real world." She reached out, sliding her hands into his.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked.

"I was thinking about exploring a little. Finding somewhere quiet and out of the way. Spending some quality time together. We never did get that vacation. Maybe a few hours is all we get, but it's better than nothing."

Steve looked back at the house, but Aspen pulled him away. "We can talk about Ultron later. We can plan out how to save the world later. Can we just have right now for us?" she asked.

"Okay." He let her lead him behind the house, past the wood fence and into the trees. They walked for a few minutes, enjoying the sun as it flitted across their skin, dancing through the branches of the trees. There was another fence deeper into the trees. Aspen didn't know if it was the property line or an old fence, but they stopped there as if they'd break the illusion of paradise if they went any further. Aspen hopped onto the fence and slid a finger through one of the belt loops on Steve's jeans, pulling him closer to her. She was level with him now, and she could see the layers of worry in his eyes, the stress and the pain of the last few days. She wanted to make that all disappear, replace the worry with something, _anything,_ else. She leaned forward and kissed him, pressing her palm against his chest. He leaned into her, placing one hand on her waist and the other on her knee. At first the kiss was hesitant like he was still certain he should be back at the house going over detailed plans for how to take down Ultron. His mind wasn't on the kiss as much as Aspen wanted it to be. She kissed him harder, curling her fingers into his shirt and pulling him forward so that he was inches from her. She leaned forward a little, brushing closer to him. He was warm and familiar and she felt her nightmares sliding away. They meant nothing next to him.

"I love you," he said against her lips. She could hear his heart in those three words. She had his attention now. She kissed him back in reply, trying to put every bit of how much she loved him into the kiss. Her hands went around his neck, running through his soft hair.

"After this is over," Steve said, pressing his forehead against hers, "when Ultron is gone, and we're not dealing with all this…there's something I want to talk to you about."

Aspen pulled back a little so she could look at him properly. "You can't talk about it now?"

He met her gaze, eyes clear. "I want it to be the right time. Right now is…chaotic. There's so much at stake." He looked nervous though she couldn't understand why.

"I understand. Let's not worry about that chaos right now though."

"I like that idea." He kissed her again, and she let herself fall into it. After a minute she couldn't remember why she'd been stressed. After a few more she'd forgotten all about her visions. All she knew was that this moment was perfect and even if Ultron ruined things tomorrow, he couldn't take today from them. No one could because it was theirs.


	29. Evolve

**27 – Evolve – May 5, 2015**

It didn't really come as a surprise to Steve or Aspen when they returned to the house and found Nick Fury sitting at the dining room table. It was nearing evening now, Steve noticed. He hadn't realized how much time they'd spent outside wandering the property. His mind felt clearer than it had since his vision, and he hoped Fury would have some sort of foolproof plan to take down Ultron. They ate dinner first, gathered around the Barton family table like a dysfunctional family. Everyone seemed a little more relaxed than they had when they'd first arrived that morning. Tony didn't speak to Steve, but he didn't seem angry anymore either. Steve knew tensions were running high but their argument earlier had made him question just how far Tony was willing to go to find peace. He'd basically told Steve he wanted to end the team. Wanted to replace them so they could go home, retire. His efforts to create peace had gone horribly wrong though. He'd acted before a threat had even presented itself and people had gotten hurt. More than that, he and Bruce had acted alone, keeping his creation of Ultron a secret until that was no longer possible. While Steve agreed that peace was the goal, he didn't trust that Tony knew the best way to achieve that. Certainly not after Ultron.

After dinner, Fury informed them that Ultron was easy to trace – he'd been everywhere and he'd been creating more of himself. But what was his ultimate goal?

"So what does he want?" Fury asked, putting voice to the question they all had.

"To become better," Steve said. He was leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. Aspen was seated next to Natasha looking down at the drawing Lila had given her. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Maybe he thought if he outnumbered them then he'd be able to eradicate them. The thought was alarming.

"Person bodies," Tony spoke up. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it…"

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha said, throwing a look at Tony and Bruce.

"They don't need to be protected," Bruce said, looking down at the drawing Lila had given Natasha. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury asked.

"Has anyone been in contact to Helen Cho?" Bruce asked in response.

"Am I missing something?" Aspen spoke up, looking down at the picture and then back up at Bruce.

"The Cradle," Tony said. "It's the machine that prints human tissue."

"Like what she used to heal Clint," Aspen said.

"Yes."

"As in he's creating a human form of himself?" she asked.

"More like trying to evolve humans into his idea of the perfect form," Bruce said. "He doesn't think humanity is worth saving the way it is. He's going to make humanity evolve by building his own version of it. That's what he thinks is going to achieve peace."

"That's crazy."

"Not in his head."

"So I guess we know where we need to go," Steve said.

"I'm going to stop by Oslo," Tony said. "See if I can't get Ultron off the Net for good."

"I think I'm better off in the lab at the Tower," Bruce said. "I'll do what I can there."

"Are you sure?" Tony asked. "No one here is asking you to sit it out, but if you want to."

"I want to," Bruce said.

Steve waited for Tony to argue but he nodded. "If that's what you want."

"Well, I guess we'd better suit up," Clint said, standing. "Who needs sleep?"

They all looked exhausted but determined. Steve and Aspen went to change into their suits. "I hope we're not too late," Aspen said worriedly, strapping on her belt. "He's always two steps ahead of us."

"This is going to come to a head soon. If his goal is our extinction then he's going to have to confront us sooner or later. Let's see if we can't upset his plans a little."

Downstairs he grabbed his shield from where it stood propped against the coffee table. "I'll take Natasha, Clint, and Aspen," Steve said as Tony walked into the room.

"All right. Strictly recon," Tony told him. "I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron's really building a body…"

"Then he'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me," Steve said with a sigh.

Aspen moved away from Steve's side, and he saw her walking over to where Laura and Clint stood. Steve saw none of the bitterness or hurt Aspen had initially felt when she'd learned Clint had a family. She smiled at Laura and hugged her before rejoining Steve.

Outside they parted ways. Bruce had gone with Fury while Tony took off in his Iron Man suit. Clint took the pilot's seat of the jet and they took off for South Korea, leaving the sanctuary of the Barton farm behind. Clint was silent as he left his family behind, and Steve wondered if it got easier or harder every time he had to leave. It put a whole new perspective on Clint. All the years Steve had known him, all the missions they'd done together, the Battle of New York…all that time he'd had a family at home wondering if he was going to return to them. Steve liked the idea of a home, of a family. What he didn't like was the uncertainty. In a job like this there was never a guarantee they would come out of a mission unscathed or at all.

Next to him Aspen looked dozy, and he suggested she try to sleep. It was another long flight, and he felt as if Ultron was already causing irreparable damage. Aspen lay her head in his lap, and he absently ran his fingers through her hair as she slept. Aspen had envisioned a time when the Avengers would be outmatched. Was this what she had seen? Was Ultron too strong for all of them together? Steve liked to think of his team as unbeatable together. He knew they were strong, but unstoppable? They'd been tested in New York and had won. It seemed impossible that a single robot could overpower them, but Ultron had been busy. He wasn't alone anymore and who knew what exactly he was trying to create if he was using Doctor Cho's Cradle. Nothing good if it was Ultron's creation. What if it _was_ more than they could handle? He looked down at Aspen and suddenly felt as if he hadn't said enough to her. They'd had their time on the farm together. He could have said more…could have ignored the chaos their lives had become for a little longer. What if he missed the chance to tell her everything he needed to? Maybe it wasn't about finding the perfect time but seizing the moments as they came. By the time the reached Korea, Steve's thoughts were more muddled than when he'd started thinking.

Clint dropped Steve and Aspen off on a rooftop with a good view of the city. Helen Cho's lab sat by the water, glass walls glinting with the afternoon sunlight. "Two minutes," Steve told Clint. "Stay close."

He had no idea what they were going to find, no idea if Ultron was really here. Everything pointed to him being here though. He turned to Aspen. "Ready?" he asked. She nodded, looking tense but determined. They made their way to the lab, Aspen keeping pace with him. She'd somehow managed to use the energy around her to run faster so she had no trouble keeping up with him. He kept finding himself impressed by her new strengths. She never seemed to stop finding ways of expanding her powers. She understood them now and that eliminated a lot of limitations she'd once run into.

They used the front doors to the facility, and it was clear right away that something was wrong. There was no security; in fact, the entire facility was quiet and deserted. They hurried up to the floor where Doctor Cho's lab was located. It was clear there had been some sort of altercation here. There was a hole in the wall and sparks sprayed forward from the broken equipment. Then Steve saw Doctor Cho lying on the floor, shoulder bloody. He ran over to her, snatching a cloth from the table above her and pressing it to her bleeding shoulder.

"He's uploading himself into the body," Helen said, her voice strained from the pain she must be feeling. She clutched his hand as she spoke.

"Where?" Steve asked.

Helen shook her head, and Steve moved to get up, but she caught his arm, pulling him back. "The real power is inside the Cradle," she told him. "The gem. Its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark."

"First I have to find it."

Helen nodded. "Go." She let go of his arm, and he stood, turning to Aspen.

"I'm going after the Cradle. Can you make sure she gets help?" He could tell Aspen wanted to go with him, but she nodded.

"Of course. I'll catch up to you."

"Did you guys copy that?" Steve asked as he ran from the room.

" _We did_ ," Clint replied on the comm.

" _We've got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest_ ," Natasha said. " _That could be him_."

" _There,_ " Clint said. " _It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. We've got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I can take out the driver_."

"Negative," Steve said, making his way to the freeway loop. A metal ladder ran up the side, and he climbed that, the rush of traffic vibrating above him. "That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron." He hardly had a moment to gather himself, finding the truck in question and taking a running leap. He vaulted from the overpass landing hard on the moving semi truck below. If he didn't know just how powerful Ultron was before, he had a feeling he was about to find out.

…

Aspen waited until the paramedics took Helen Cho away before leaving the lab and trying to find her bearings. She was very familiar with the signature of the gem from Loki's scepter now so she reached out her sense and latched onto it. It was moving quickly – on a semi truck from what she'd heard on the comm. She looked around at the line of cars currently sitting unused in the lot. A particularly sleek looking Audi caught her eye. She flicked her fingers and the engine started with a satisfying purr. The doors unlocked and she climbed behind the wheel, backing out of the parking spot and speeding toward the freeway.

"I'm on my way," she said into the comm. "Anything I can do?"

" _Not on foot_ ," came Clint's reply.

"I'm not on foot," Aspen told him. She had entered the freeway and was weaving through traffic hoping the police were otherwise occupied as she pushed the speed.

" _Please don't tell me you're in that car going way too fast down the middle of the freeway_ ," Clint said, a hint of pleading in his voice.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing."

" _Whose car is that? Did you_ steal _it?_ "

Aspen rolled her eyes. "I'm borrowing it. Now what can I do to help?"

" _Keep close to the semi. Steve's no match for Ultron._ "

"Good pep talk. Steve can take care of himself, but I'm moving in." She had the semi in her sights. She could sense the power of the scepter's stone radiating. There was something different about it, something raw and much more powerful than she'd felt before. What had Ultron done to it? She saw Steve fighting Ultron on top of the semi and it struck her what strange lives they lived. Ultron lunged at Steve who shoved him away into one of the pillars holding up the overpass. The stone crumbled at the force, but Ultron was back in a moment, flying straight at Steve. Steve turned, grabbing Ultron. The momentum took them both straight off the truck. Aspen watched in horror as they went crashing into the side of a tram that was running alongside the road.

"Steve!"

" _I'm okay_ ," came his reply a moment later.

Aspen was trying to keep alongside the tram, but the police had made a blockade up ahead in an attempt to stop the semi so Aspen turned back onto the freeway, keeping an eye on the tram. A blast suddenly went through the front of the train and Ultron flew out, heading away from the tram.

" _I lost him! He's headed your way!"_ came Steve's voice.

Aspen watched as the tram kept going, faster, out of control. The track was coming to an end, she realized suddenly. The train was going to crash. She watched as it left the tracks, sliding through the buildings that stood in the way. People were screaming and running. She couldn't hear them but she could sense their fear. She turned the car off the freeway, getting as close as she could to the runaway train.

" _Do you have eyes on Nat_?" Clint was asking frantically. Aspen could hardly hear him above the grating of the train as it crashed beside her.

" _Go!_ " Steve shouted into the comm. He was still on the train. Aspen wasn't right along the train now but she could see it speeding between the buildings. People were running everywhere, and she was forced to slow. There was an explosion of concrete as the train went straight through a building. She heard Steve cry out in pain on the comm and her heart clenched. She felt entirely powerless. She tried to reach out with her powers but she didn't know what to do, what she _could_ do. She could try to stop it but she didn't know if she was strong enough. She couldn't get close enough and she couldn't concentrate while driving. An earsplitting grating filled the air a moment later, and she saw that the train was slowing. She didn't understand what was happening until she felt a familiar energy. The enhanced girl was here. Wanda was using her powers to stop the train. Aspen slammed on the brakes, leaping from the car before it had fully stopped. The air was filled with dust, and she ran into the cloud, fighting her way through the people surging against her. The train was tilted amid the broken concrete. The front window was shattered, and she could see the slumped body of the driver.

"Steve!" she screamed his name, oblivious to anything else but finding him. Then she saw a familiar shield. Steve stepped down from the front of the train. Aspen was running into his arms before he had a chance to take a step toward her. She flung her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. "Don't _ever_ do that again," she told him flatly, pulling away and touching his face, making sure he wasn't hurt.

"I'm all right. Actually it's thanks to the Maximoffs." He looked past her, and she saw Wanda and Pietro standing a few feet away. They looked warily over at Steve and Aspen. Steve walked toward them, and Aspen hurried after him. Wanda met her eyes and Aspen saw regret there. She pushed back her surprise as Wanda spoke.

"The Cradle," she said, her voice pitched with worry. She looked at Steve. "Did you get it?"

"Stark will take care of it," Steve assured her.

Wanda pulled back, her eyes filled with mistrust. "No he won't," she said, shaking her head.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Stark isn't crazy," Steve said. Aspen saw uncertainty in his eyes though, a flicker of doubt.

"He will do anything to make things right," Wanda told him.

Steve stared at her for a moment and then turned away. "Stark come in," he said into the comm. "Stark? Anyone on comms?"

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it," Wanda said. "Where do you think he gets that?" Steve turned his head, and Aspen could see that a part of him understood exactly what Wanda meant. Aspen's thoughts flashed back to the beginning of this fiasco. It had started because Tony was trying to fix something. Instead he'd broken it and, in the process, he'd created something bent on destroying the world. What _would_ he do to fix this mistake? Was the Cradle really in safer hands? Tony's hands had created Ultron and Ultron had created whatever was in the Cradle.

"She might have a point, Steve," Aspen said, turning to him. His eyes flashed for a moment. She saw his confusion. He wanted to trust Tony, but he also knew Tony's flaws. He knew how far Tony would go and he knew that he'd probably do it without first consulting his team. "He means well, he does, but sometimes he doesn't know when to stop. Tony Stark doesn't accept limitations even when limitations are there for reasons."

"We need to stop him," Wanda pressed.

"We need to get back to the Tower," Aspen said.

"Clint took the jet," Steve told her

"There are transport vehicles back at the lab. Come on." She started toward the side street that would lead to the car. When no one followed her, she turned back around. "You turned against Ultron," she said to the twins. They must have otherwise they wouldn't be standing there concerned about the Cradle. "Why?"

It was Wanda who answered, her brother still silent. "I looked into the mind of the being he was creating. I saw Ultron's thoughts in his head and they were of destruction. He's not what we thought he was."

"The Avengers aren't either. Whatever you had against us, even if it was just Hydra's influence, we're the good guys. Tony…well. Let's just get back to the Tower," she said. This time the twins did follow her.

The car was still running where she left it, and Aspen got behind the wheel. There was a tense silence in the car as she pulled away from the destruction and turned back the way she had come.

"Did you steal this car?" Steve broke the silence.

"Really?" Aspen gave him a look.

"I'm beginning to think I'm a bad influence on you," he said.

"I _borrowed_ it and I'm going to put it right back where I found it," she told him. "Anyway, you guys left me behind. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Is Helen okay?"

"She will be. I waited until the paramedics got there. Ultron must have used the scepter to control the lab workers."

"He did," Wanda said from the backseat. "I broke the hold on the doctor's mind."

"You can control the scepter's power?" Aspen asked.

"It wasn't the scepter. There was something inside of the gem on it. A smaller gem. It held great power."

"But it's still in the Cradle? I sensed it."

Wanda nodded. "You have powers too." She sounded curious.

"A serum injection," Aspen said. "I didn't choose to be injected, but I learned to use my powers anyway."

"I'm sorry you did not have the choice."

"I think I understand why you made yours," Aspen said. "You were just trying to protect your country."

"I wish I could say it was only to protect but at first it was for revenge. Maybe it always has been."

"What do you mean?"

"You know about us by now," Pietro spoke for the first time. Aspen glanced back at him in the rearview mirror.

"I know your parents died."

"Do you know what killed them?" Pietro asked.

"A shell."

"A _Stark_ shell," Pietro amended.

"Oh."

"You see now why we do not trust Stark."

"He's not in the weapons business anymore and I know he wouldn't have sent missiles at your country. People have stolen his weapons. Terrorists."

"So you would not have him take responsibility for his creations?" Pietro asked.

Aspen was quiet. The kid had a point. A very good point. "I'm sorry you lost them," she said. "Right now a lot more is at risk if we don't stop Ultron. Tony might not always make good decisions but right now he's not the one we need to worry about."

"He might be," Wanda said. "It depends on what he does with the Cradle."

The lab was up ahead and Aspen screeched into the parking lot, swinging into a space. She cut the engine with her powers. "Come on."

They ran for the hangar on the other side of the lab where several small transport jets sat waiting for use. They weren't like Tony's jets, but they would be fast enough to get them home. In time to confront Tony about the Cradle, Aspen wasn't sure. Clint didn't have too far of a head start on them.

"Strap in," Aspen said, turning the jet's engine on and preparing for flight. The cockpit was tight, but they all fit. Steve had taken the copilot's seat next to her. Aspen pushed the thrusters forward and the jet shot out of the hangar and into the air. She pressed the jet as fast as it could safely go.

"I heard Clint asking where Natasha was," Aspen said, turning to Steve.

"I'm not sure what happened," he admitted.

"Nat can take care of herself." She'd said it over and over about Aspen. They were all going to get through this. They had to. This wasn't the ending she'd seen. This wasn't the moment when they all found themselves outnumbered, outgunned. She felt a doubt sprouting in her mind though. What if it _was_? What if her vision had changed and this was the moment of their defeat? She tightened her grip on the controls. The Avengers would not let that happen. Ultron would be facing his own extinction and the Avengers would continue to protect the world as they always had. At least that was what she told herself.


	30. Monsters and Saviors

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the wait! It's been a whirlwind week. Sunday I started looking for a new car. Monday I bought a new car. Tuesday I had to get my car registered and insured. Wednesday was my birthday. And here we are on Thursday. So yeah, I'm financing my first car. It's my third car altogether, but it's my first car that's not at least 20 years old! I just decided it was time. My 97' Sonata had issues. I replaced like everything in it over the years including the entire transmission and all four brakes. The check engine light is on, all the buttons for the electric windows up front don't work, and the engine clicks so loudly that people would actually stop and stare as I drove past... So I got a 2015 Nissan Versa. I didn't mean to get that new of a car but it was a really good price. It's this gorgeous royal blue. I love it so much. It's the newest car I've ever driven. I'm just so excited to be able to roll down my windows! And I can rely on it. I can't even quite wrap my mind around that. The bills are certainly piling up though. Being an adult is so expensive. My manager asked me the other day if it was worth it having two jobs because I'm scheduled 19 days in a row without a day off in between. But I can't survive on one job, that's for sure. So yeah, not much time for writing or doing much of anything else. There are two more chapters after this one and then I've only written two pages in part three... I'll try to pick up the pace, but there might be a break between parts two and three. I'm also trying to continue editing the book I would love to try to get published and finish the pile of library books that are due soon. I haven't read a single one of my own books since I got hired at the library three months ago. I need help. I can't stop checking them out and I don't have time to read them all.

Anyway, thank you so much for favorites and follows and reviews! Totally makes my day. This chapter has a happy little thing at the end. I hope you enjoy! I thought it was time, and I'm really eager to see where it goes. Hope you are all well - thank you for reading!

* * *

 **28 – Monsters and Saviors – May 6, 2015**

"What do you think Tony plans on doing with the Cradle?" Aspen asked Steve as New York came into sight ahead of them. It'd been a long and fairly silent flight, tensions still hanging in the air. Steve wasn't entirely sure what to think of the Maximoff's sudden change in alliance. They clearly didn't want to see the destruction of their world, but he wasn't sure if that made them on the Avengers' side or not. Right now they needed to worry about taking Ultron down. They could figure out everything else later.

"I don't know," Steve said truthfully. He didn't know exactly what was being formed inside the Cradle or what that meant for them. If it was Ultron's creation, then there was little chance of anything good coming from it.

Aspen set the jet down on top of the Tower where a smaller landing pad was centered. The Avenjet was sitting on the main landing pad, so they knew Clint had arrived safely with the Cradle. Steve really hoped Natasha was in the Tower too. Had he not been trying to stop the runaway train he would have done more to help find her, but sometimes they had to put duty first. Natasha could take care of herself. They'd do anything they could to find her if she was still missing.

Pietro and Wanda hesitated when Steve and Aspen alighted from the jet. Aspen turned to them. "You're safe here," she said. "If you're serious about helping us then no one here is going to harm you."

"We want to help," Wanda said, stepping forward. Her brother followed her lead.

"Good." Aspen smiled, and Steve could see that she was already warming up to the twins even though they'd only been allies for a few hours. It was one of the things he loved about Aspen. She had such a generous heart and didn't hesitate before reaching out to people. He knew she felt a connection to the twins – they had abilities like her – but more than that she understood them. They'd lost like she had, they'd been on the wrong side like she once had, they'd seen war and been experimented on. It was Aspen's natural instinct to take people like that under her wing. They couldn't have been much younger than her, and Steve felt a desire to keep them safe too, keep them away from Ultron and Hydra's poor influence. Show them that the Avengers meant well.

"Tony will be in the lab," Aspen said, breaking Steve's thoughts. He nodded.

"What will he do?" Wanda asked, following Steve and Aspen as they entered the Tower from the roof, heading down to the lab.

"I guess we'll find out," Steve said. They made their way down, hearing voices as they neared the lab.

"You have _got_ to upload that schematic in the next three minutes," Bruce was telling Tony as they entered the room. The Cradle was situated in the lab, cables hooked up to it. Bruce leaned down to check one while Tony worked up above.

Steve was past the point of disbelief. Hadn't they just made this mistake a few days ago? Messing with things they didn't understand? Now here they were with the Cradle, looking as if they were trying to finish Ultron's work. Steve took a step into the room. "I'm gonna say this once," he said as Tony and Bruce looked up.

Tony's eyes flashed to his, and Steve saw defiance there. "How about nunce?"

"Shut it down!" Steve said angrily. He was done with Tony's negligence and poor decisions. His patience was stretched further than it was meant to go, and he was willing to stop Tony by any means at this point.

"Nope," Tony said casually, and Steve felt a stab of annoyance. "Not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing," Steve said.

"And you do?" Bruce asked. Steve turned to look at him. "She's not in your head?" He pointed at Wanda.

Wanda stepped around Steve. "I know you're angry," she said. Steve could hear the regret in her voice, but Bruce brushed it aside.

"Oh we're way past that," Bruce said. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Hey!" Aspen said angrily, stepping up. "That's not fair."

"Oh so you liked it when she got inside your head?" Bruce asked, turning his eyes to Aspen.

"Banner, after _everything_ that's happened-" Steve started.

"Is _nothing_ compared to what's coming!" Tony turned on Steve.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda said angrily.

"This isn't a game!" Did Tony ever take anything seriously?

Before anyone else could argue, Pietro blurred past them and suddenly everything plugged into the Cradle was unhooked.

"No, no, go on. You were saying?" he asked. Bruce and Tony looked slightly dumbstruck as the power began to drain from the Cradle. In the chaos, there was the sound of breaking glass as the floor beneath Pietro's feet shattered. He fell through, his face fixed in shock.

"Pietro!" Wanda shouted as he disappeared below. The computer started beeping, a red message popping up that read 'Power Loss Critical.'

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony said, turning to type something into the computer.

Steve had had enough. He hurled his shield at the machinery and sparks went flying where it hit. Then something hit Steve straight in the chest, and a stinging pain surged through him. He fell backwards hard and looked up to see that Tony had fitted his hand with his Iron Man glove. He'd fired his repulsor ray at Steve.

"Tony!" Aspen shouted.

Steve sat, dumfounded, for a second before getting back on his feet. He ran at Tony, raising his fist. Tony had his chest plate on now and fired at Steve again. Both went flying backwards, Tony crashing through the glass wall of the lab. Aspen was shouting at Tony, and Steve heard several unkind names that she would normally never call Tony. Bruce had Wanda in a vice grip, but she fought him off with her powers. It was chaos and none of it was helping. Ultron was already destroying them just by turning them all against each other. Tony was on his feet again, but Aspen jumped in front of him, and Steve saw the surprise on Tony's face when Aspen used her powers to keep him from stepping any closer.

"Let me go," he told her, eyes fierce.

"No." If anyone's stubbornness could match Tony's it was Aspen's. She kept Tony in a vice grip while he tried to fight it. Before either could do anything more, Thor came bursting into the room, leaping onto the Cradle and flinging his hammer into the air. Lightning flashed around the room, and Steve threw his arm up to keep the light from blinding him. Thor brought the hammer down on the Cradle. Bruce shouted something, but the electricity was already running through the Cradle. Everyone stood watching, altercation completely forgotten. Thor pulled back and the room went silent. Then the Cradle exploded outward, and Thor was sent flying. A being came out, hovering in the air a moment before dropping down to rest on the surface of the Cradle. Mist swilled around him, and he gazed down at his hands with newborn curiosity. Steve stood watching, unsure. The being looked human – at least he was shaped like one. His skin was red with bits of metal and a yellow gem sparkled at his brow. He looked around, unease written clearly in his eyes. Any attempts to prevent Ultron's creation from awakening had failed, and it was now out of their hands. Why had Thor charged the Cradle like that? How had he known to do that and how could he have known it was the right thing to do?

The being's eyes went to Thor as if he knew who had awakened him, and suddenly he charged. Thor caught him and threw him through the glass wall. The creature stopped before hitting the outside window and hovered there.

" _What_ is that?" Aspen asked softly. No one answered.

Thor got to his feet and leapt down to the level below. Steve followed, shield ready to be used if need be, but Thor flung a hand out, stopping him. The android was staring out the window either at the city below or his own reflection. He seemed calmer now, and Steve reminded himself of his own reaction after waking from the ice. The world had seemed a frightening place, but at least he'd lived in it before. This creature had not. The others joined them, and Thor placed his hammer on the table.

"I'm sorry," the android said. "That was…odd." He turned to Thor. "Thank you." When he spoke, his voice sounded familiar, and Steve realized he sounded like Jarvis.

"Thor. You helped create this?" he asked. Aspen stepped up to his side, gazing at the android curiously. Steve was hesitant to consider it anything less than a threat.

"You acted like you knew just what to do," Aspen said.

"I've had a vision," Thor explained. He'd gone to some sort of pool that had shown him the vision. He pointed to the stone at the center of the android's head and called it the Mind Stone. It was one of the Infinity Stones, he said. One of the greatest powers in the universe with unparalleled destructive capabilities. No wonder Loki had done so much damage with it.

"Then why did you bring it here?" Steve asked. Ultron had known about the stone, had put it into the creature's head, but that kind of power was not something they wanted to stand up against.

"Because Stark was right," Thor said.

"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Bruce muttered.

"We cannot defeat Ultron," Thor went on to say.

"Not alone," the android spoke up, looking around the room. He'd clothed himself, somehow, in grey and with a cape of different colors. When Steve questioned why he sounded like Jarvis, he replied that he was neither a child of Ultron nor Jarvis. He was something else entirely though he had been merged with Jarvis's interface.

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda said, stepping forward, her eyes wary.

The android turned to face her. "Look again," he said softly.

"Yeah, her seal of approval means jack to me," Clint said, striding forward. Aspen shot him a stern glance, but he just shook his head at her.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself – they all came from the Mind Stone," Thor said. "And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash, but with it on our side…"

"Is it?" Steve questioned. He turned to the android. "Are you?" he asked. "On our side?"

The room was quiet as everyone waited for the android to answer. "I don't think it's that simple," he finally said.

"Well it'd better get real simple real soon," Clint said impatiently.

"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all." It wasn't the answer Steve had been looking for, but the android sounded nothing like Ultron. Ultron had no respect for life.

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You," the android replied simply.

"Where?" Bruce asked.

It was Clint who answered that question. "Sokovia. He's got Nat there too." He was pacing around the room like a caged animal, looking impatient to get to Natasha.

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce said, stepping up to Ultron. "If you are the monster Ultron created you to be…"

"What will you do?" the android asked, searching Bruce's face. Bruce didn't reply, but the android seemed to understand. Steve waited for his response. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He is unique and he is in pain, but that pain will roll over the Earth so he must be destroyed. Every form that he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now and not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster," he said looking down at his hands. "I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are and not what you intended so there may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go." He turned and held out Thor's hammer to the demi-god. Everyone stared. Thor looked confounded but took the hammer. He looked around at them and his expression told them not to mention what had just happened. Clint opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it again. Thor slapped his hand lightly with the hammer and turned.

"All right," he said. He patted Tony on the shoulder. "Well done."

"Three minutes," Steve said, breaking the awkward silence. "Get what you need." He and Aspen were already dressed in their suits, but he felt like he needed three minutes to mentally prepare. He took Aspen's arm and led her to a quiet part of the lounge. Glass was still everywhere and the chairs had char marks from Ultron's attack. He wondered if it would ever feel like home again.

"How are you holding up?" he asked Aspen.

"I'm okay," she said. "We need to be on our game and before was not good." Steve nodded. His stomach still hurt where Tony had shot him with his repulsor ray. Fighting Tony wasn't one of his proudest moments but his pent up frustration toward him had gotten the better of him.

"It wasn't good," he agreed. "We need to work together to defeat Ultron though. We can put aside our differences until that's finished."

"Ironic isn't it? That Ultron's creation has turned against him. Just like Tony's creation turned against _him_."

"I just kept seeing another Ultron coming out of that Cradle," Steve said, looking over to where Vision stood talking to Thor outside on the landing parapet.

"Me too. It was like Tony was making the same mistake over again. I guess sometimes you have to take risks and hope they turn out for the best."

"I've just had enough surprises to last me a lifetime," Steve said.

"Not all surprises are bad. Ultron was a bad surprise. I wouldn't want him jumping out of my birthday cake, but I think the...I don't know what to call him – the android? I think he's a good surprise. And we have Wanda and Pietro on our side now."

"You like them, don't you?" Steve asked.

"They're lost and I want to help them," she replied. "We all make mistakes. They deserve forgiveness. Anyway, some of us can't exactly argue against it considering the mistakes that have been made recently. Tony is going to be making up for Ultron for a long time."

"I hope he's realized his mistake," Steve said with a sigh. "He gets so set in his way of thinking that he literally doesn't see his mistakes. He doesn't even realize."

"He's a futurist. He looks ahead. He doesn't look along the way. That's what we're for. That's why we're a team. We keep each other grounded or try our best to."

"When this is over with things are going to be different," Steve vowed. Their team needed to work together, to _listen_. They couldn't keep secrets that big.

"Come on, you should talk to Tony. We need to make sure we go in together like a team. We need to work together like we did at the beginning of all of this before Ultron came into being," Aspen said. "I'm going to go get some things."

Steve wished he could have longer alone with her. Who knew what would happen tomorrow? This might be the last chance he got to really talk to her. Instead of suggesting they wait another minute though, he nodded and let her go.

"No way we all get through this," Tony said as Steve approached. He kept his voice low, watching Aspen walk away. A feeling of helplessness washed over Steve. He felt as if this entire situation was out of their control. He just wanted them to come out safe, but he knew that was unrealistic. Ultron would have them outnumbered. They'd been outnumbered before in New York, but the answer had been simple there – close the portal, take down Loki. Taking down Ultron was more difficult and they still didn't know his end game. He wanted the Avengers extinction and perhaps the world's but how was he planning on achieving that? He'd said before that if they fell, if they were defeated, they'd do that together as a team. He'd meant it. He looked around at his teammates and felt a surge of pride. They didn't hesitate when their lives were on the line. It was their duty, and they never backed down from it.

When their three minutes were up, they got into the jet and left New York behind them. Aspen stayed at Steve's side and he got the feeling she was trying to comfort him. He turned to her and tried to smile, but he couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that they wouldn't get their chance to have a life beyond this one. Whatever time they had together, it never seemed like enough.

"We're going to make it out of this," Aspen said as if reading his thoughts. "We're the only ones who can do this."

"I know."

"We're taking a very long vacation after this."

"Agreed."

"They're going to need something before we go in," Aspen told him. "I wasn't joking when I said you needed to give them a speech. They listen to you, respect you."

"I haven't written one out."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she said, smirking.

…

The plan was fairly simple. Get the people out of the city. They were innocent victims in this and yet they knew Ultron would not hesitate to kill them. Pietro and Wanda used their abilities to get people out while Steve, Clint, and Aspen helped evacuate them. Bruce went in search of Natasha and Tony and Thor went looking for Ultron. Whatever their grievances with each other earlier, they were working together as a team once more. Steve's speech had given them the motivation they'd needed, and Aspen had smiled proudly at him after he'd delivered it. He was a natural leader, and she couldn't imagine going into a fight like this without him there. They'd split up to help with the evacuation, Steve wrapping Aspen in an embrace before they parted. He'd kissed her too, earning them a few catcalls from Clint. "Be safe," he told her.

"You too."

Now Aspen moved along the streets of Sokovia, motioning for the people to head down the road and out of the city. Wanda's mind tricks were working with them now, motivating the people to leave their homes without question. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the ground began to rumble beneath their feet. At first Aspen thought it was an earthquake but then dozens of metal Ultrons came out of the ground, breaking through like mechanical butterflies coming free of their chrysalises. They came in swarms now and the people began to scream. Aspen knew if the panic broke out, people were going to get hurt. She didn't know if she had the power to calm the crowd, but she reached out her powers, pushing past the fear and the confusion and trying to tamp it down. The screams lessened.

"Keep going!" Aspen shouted. She jumped up onto an abandoned car on the side of the road. The people started moving again, this time with more order. A dozen Ultrons came at them, but Aspen flung them back. They hit the walls of the buildings around them and broke apart, littering the ground with their parts. She threw two more against each other and fused the metal together. There were too many people and too many Ultrons though. The people weren't moving fast enough and as Aspen continued to fight the robots, the ground began to shake again. This time the shaking didn't stop. The ground cracked next to her, and she leapt off the car as a gap appeared next to the tire. The entire ground was moving. Cracks spread and shifted as the patch of city she was standing in began to move upward. The people were panicking again and this time she didn't have the power to calm them. Some people lunged onto the stable ground while others ran back into the city. Aspen stood at the brink as Sokovia lifted into the air. Rocks crumbled beneath her feet and she took a few steps back. She'd never been afraid of heights before but now as the entire city rose into the sky sending structures tumbling down like building blocks, she felt her stomach drop. As the chunk of city lifted high above the ground, more and more of the edges cracked away. Buildings continued to collapse and the car next to her started rolling toward the edge. Aspen sidestepped just in time. She watched the car lunge headfirst to its death. She heard an explosion behind her and that jolted her back into the present. There was still a battle to be won, and she wasn't going to let this very unexpected turn in events keep her down. She turned and flung her powers out at the Ultrons.

The robots dropped like flies under her onslaught. She wasn't holding back today. There was no fear in her actions. She knew she had them under control, and she realized now that this was exactly the situation she'd been fearing if she'd taken the antiserum. Without the serum she would be relying on her fighting skills alone and against an army of robots… She didn't have Natasha's skills or Clint's accuracy. She was small and she was not battle-hardened like the rest of her team. But as her powers thrummed along her fingertips, she knew that this was exactly who she was meant to be.

The earth was still rising, and as she fought, Aspen heard Ultron's voice echoing above the city. "When the dust settles," he told them, "the only thing living in this world will be metal."

He meant to drop the rising city down like a meteor. The damage to the earth would be catastrophic. Aspen's confidence faltered. The robots they could fight, the people they could protect, but how could they stop the city from falling? She heard Steve's voice on the comms, speaking to Tony.

" _Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job. Tear these things apart. You get hurt; hurt them back. You get killed; walk it off_."

"Moving," Aspen said into the comm. "Absolutely moving." She struck out at the nearest Ultron, spearing it through the broken metal framework on one of the buildings. She moved further into the city where the streets were piled with rubble. Dented cars lay on the side of the road, giant pieces of concrete flattening their roofs. There was a frantic knocking on one of the windows, and Aspen turned to see a woman and her daughter trapped inside one of the cars. It was half buried under rubble and a line of blood ran down the woman's face. The door was jammed shut. Aspen ran over, using her powers to heave the stone aside. She wretched the door open and helped the woman and her daughter out. "Get to safety," she said. She didn't know if anywhere in this flying city was safe, but the streets were filled with Ultrons.

She ran onward, trying to find anyone else who was trapped or in need of help. Some of the people were finding shelter in buildings further inland where the damage was not so devastating. Several Ultrons burst through one of the buildings, shattering the windows and bricks and compromising the sturdiness. It started to crumble before Aspen, sliding toward the street where the base had been damaged. Aspen hurled out a force field to keep the building steady. It was so heavy and for a moment she thought she wouldn't be able to hold it. Somehow amid the chaos her mind skipped to Yoda telling Luke that the size of the object he was trying to lift with the Force didn't matter. Aspen let go of the weight and pushed. The building slid back into place, and she let go. She felt drained and slumped against a car for a moment.

" _All right, we're all clear here_ ," she heard Clint say over the comm.

" _We are_ not _clear. We are_ very _not clear_ ," came Steve's response.

" _Coming to you_ ," Clint replied.

Aspen had no idea where the others were. She reached out her senses. Clint was with the Maximoffs across the city. Steve was to her right near the edge with Thor. Natasha was there too, and Aspen felt a surge of relief. She moved in that direction. The streets were clearer as if the Ultrons were all trying to take out Steve, Thor, and Natasha. The city was still rising, and the clouds were choking it along with the smoke. Everything was hazy as Aspen made her way to Steve and the others. She only met a few more Ultrons as she went. Finally she made it to the edge and saw Steve and Natasha fighting an Ultron together, sharing his shield. They drove the Ultron into the ground and a fragile silence followed.

Steve turned as Aspen approached, and relief was written across his face. He came forward, taking her arms and inspecting her to see if she was hurt. "I'm fine," she said, bringing up a hand to touch his cheek. He didn't seem to be injured, so she turned to Natasha. "I'm glad you're okay," she said. "I was worried. We all were."

"Turns out Bruce is good at jailbreaks," she said with a smirk.

"Is he here?"

"The Hulk is."

"Good. He needs to see that he isn't a monster," Aspen said. "We're not the monsters here."

"We need to get the people to safety," Steve said. There were still panic-stricken people running around, covered in rubble dust. Many had injuries and a few looked too frightened to move. Aspen moved forward to help a woman up from the rubble. Her eyes were wide when they met Aspen's and at first she didn't take Aspen's proffered hand.

"It's all right," Aspen told her. "I'm here to help."

The woman nodded, reaching up and taking Aspen's hand. Aspen hoisted her to her feet and helped her walk toward the closest building that had sustained the least amount of damage. People were congregating there and Steve and Natasha helped some of them in.

Aspen spread out her senses to see if she could pick up on anyone else out in the city who hadn't made it this far. A few heat signatures caught her attention. "I'll be right back," she told Steve who looked as if he didn't want to let her go. "I'll be fine. There are some people still out there." Steve nodded, and she moved back into the shrouded city. She tried not to imagine Ultrons coming out of the shadows but focused on the heat signatures, keeping a wary eye out for anything metal that moved. She ran along the street, searching each building until she found the one where the heat signatures were radiating from. They were on the bottom floor thankfully, but the building was partially collapsed. She couldn't move the heavy stones blocking the entrance without compromising the integrity of the building so she found a little gap she could squeeze through. She coughed at the dust from the rubble and pushed the smog away so she could see better. Someone was lying across the floor up ahead and Aspen ran forward, falling to her knees and feeling for a pulse. The woman's wrist was still warm, but there was no pulse beneath the skin. Her eyes were still open, gazing off into the distance. Part of the ceiling had collapsed onto her back and legs. Aspen reached her trembling fingers forward and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and focused on the other heat signatures. The dead woman was still warm, but Aspen knew that would soon fade. There was nothing she could do to help her. She struggled over the rubble until she found two teenagers huddling in the corner behind an overturned table.

"Let's get you out of here," Aspen told them. "Come on. I'll get you to safety."

The teens got slowly to their feet and followed Aspen. She wished she could hide the dead woman from them, but their eyes took her in as they walked past, and she saw the horror there. She knew what they were feeling. There had been a first dead body for her too, and it stayed with her. It wasn't something you forgot. What was happening to these people was something they wouldn't forget. It would take a long time for the dust to settle, for them to heal the wounds and move on. _What if we don't get out of this?_ The thought came on suddenly, and Aspen realized she'd been ignoring it all this time. It hadn't ever been a question of whether or not they got out. They were the Avengers. They always won. Right now though, thousands of feet above the ground, getting out looked impossible. The teens hurried ahead to where the other people were, but Aspen fell behind. Her feet took her closer to the edge and she looked over. It was like looking at death, and she wondered if it would hurt. She hadn't gone into today thinking she would die. She hadn't said any goodbyes, hadn't told anyone where she was going. She'd just walked out the door thinking she'd come back like she always did. Now that she was looking death in the face, she realized she wasn't ready for it. There was still so much she hadn't done, hadn't said. Maybe that was how everyone felt before they died, but she wanted to scream out that it wasn't fair. Maybe now was when she was supposed to die a hero's death. People would talk about her sacrifice for years to come. When it came down to it though, she didn't want to die at all.

…

Most of the Sokovians had moved into the building, and Steve decided it was time for the next part of their plan. "The next wave's gonna hit any minute," he said into the comm. "What have you got, Stark?"

" _Well, nothing great_ ," came Tony's reply. He sounded defeated, and Steve felt a little jolt. He'd never really thought they might not make it out of this, but right now it wasn't sounding good. _"Maybe a way to blow up the city. That will keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."_

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve said, walking back outside. Wanda was outside guiding people in. She looked frightened even though she was trying to put on a brave face. They'd dragged her into this but she was just a kid.

" _Impact radius is getting bigger every second_ ," Tony said. " _We're gonna have to make a choice_."

"Cap, these people are going nowhere," Natasha said, coming up alongside him. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock-"

"Not til everyone's safe," Steve said. He looked out over the ruined city with a mixture of determination and desperateness.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" Natasha questioned, giving him a hard look. "There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve told her.

"I didn't say we should leave," Natasha said. "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Steve turned to Natasha, grateful that she was here, that she was staying. "I guess so." He looked for Aspen, but she was still searching for stragglers. If they were going to die then he needed to be with her. "I need to find Aspen."

"You know," Natasha told him, "as perhaps the world's leading authority on waiting too long, don't." She smiled at him, and he laughed softly.

"You heard that."

"If we die today, what's the last thing you want her to hear?"

"That I love her."

"Then go tell her that. And if we _do_ make it out of this…you might want to say a little more." She smiled, eyes lighting up a little. "Now go."

Steve nodded, running off in the direction Aspen had gone. When he didn't find her right away, he started feeling desperate. What if he didn't find her in time? He didn't have much time. They needed to make a decision soon for better or for worse.

The dust up ahead stirred, clearing just enough for Steve to see a single figure standing at the edge of the city. Red hair fluttered in the wind. Her eyes were set on the world below, and Steve could see the slump of her shoulders. She understood just how bleak it looked. As he approached, she stiffened and turned, relaxing when she saw it was him.

"I never thought I'd look down on the world like this," she said, turning back to gaze down. Steve joined her.

"We don't have a lot of options," he said.

"I heard Tony on the comms," she said. "I understand what we have to sacrifice. A hero's death, right? It's how I should want to die."

"You don't have to want to die."

"I don't." She turned to him. "I'm scared, Steve."

The look in her eyes undid him. He pulled her forward against his chest, holding her tightly. "I'm scared too. We might make it out of this, but right now it looks like a lot of people are going to die."

"The ones down there or the ones up here," Aspen said.

"Exactly."

"We're going to figure this out." It sounded more like a question, but Steve just nodded. "We've got Tony freaking Stark out there and Thor's a demi-god for crying out loud." She sounded on the verge of hysterics.

"I needed to find you," Steve said. "I needed to make sure you knew just how much I love you-"

"You're not saying goodbye." Aspen pulled away from him. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "This is _not_ goodbye."

"No, it's not." Steve gently grabbed her shoulders. "Do you remember when I told you I had something I wanted to talk to you about? At Clint's farm?"

"You said you wanted to wait until the chaos was over," Aspen said. "Until Ultron was defeated."

"I wanted to wait for the perfect moment but I realized there is no such thing as a perfect moment. Sometimes you just have to take a leap even if the ground is crumbling beneath your feet."

"Literally."

"I don't know if we're going to make it out of this, but if we do I want to cherish every single moment of time with you. It's never going to be enough, and if we do die today then I want to be with you." He was talking quickly now, trying to say everything he meant to say but it sounded jumbled in his head. He needed to take a leap. "I want to ask something," he told her. "It's the worst possible time and it's not the way I wanted to ask, but I've wanted to ask for awhile now." Why was it so hard to get the actual words out? He needed to say it just right, but it was like he'd forgotten how to string words together. "I can't imagine a life without you, Aspen. You came into my life when I was completely alone and confused and you befriended me without question. I don't want a future without you." She was quiet, watching him. He didn't know if she realized what he was trying to ask, but he forged on knowing that he didn't have the luxury of time. "I know everything looks bleak right now, but if we make it out of this…if we get to go home, Aspen, will you marry me? I don't have a ring. I mean, I do, just not with me. I didn't think to bring it, obviously-"

Aspen cut him off by pressing a finger to his lips. He cut off abruptly. He suddenly felt like the timid Steve who'd once been terrified to even talk to girls let alone ask them to dance. He'd wanted to ask this question of Aspen for ages, but he'd never gotten the confidence. What if she didn't want to take that next step? What if it was too soon? They'd known each other three years but to Steve it felt like a lifetime. They fit together, and everything about being with her felt right. He realized he was holding his breath and let it out.

"You want to marry me?" Aspen asked. Her voice was small, and she looked terrified. Steve realized he'd been too hasty. This wasn't the time. She was upset and there was a really good chance they might die and here he was asking her to make this weighty decision.

"You don't have to answer right now," he said quickly, dropping his eyes. He hadn't felt this nervous in ages. Suddenly the fact that they were on a floating city was nothing compared to this.

"I don't have to think about it," Aspen said. He looked up at her, searching her green eyes for an answer. "My heart has belonged to you from just about the second we met," she told him. "So yes, of course I'll marry you." She laughed, her tears finally overflowing though Steve hoped it was from happiness now. She threw her arms around him, and he held her close, somehow feeling happier than he had ever felt before despite their current situation. "Right now we need to focus on getting out of this," Aspen said, pulling away too soon. "Because now I _really_ want to live. You owe me a ring."

Steve smiled at her and then leaned down to kiss her. She folded her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. He tried to pour every bit of love he felt into the kiss. It wasn't long enough, but he knew it was all the time they had. "Let's go end this," he said, taking her hand.

"Together," she said.

"Together," he echoed.


	31. Meteor

**Author's Note:** I'm falling behind on writing again... I work 19 days in a row without a day off, so I haven't really had much time for writing. I'm also checking out too many books from the library again. (I haven't read a single book I own since I started working there.) I just can't stop checking them out. But they have due dates and people have them on hold after me. It's intense. Anyway, I have one more chapter after this and then I'm caught up to where I'm still writing so there will definitely be a break between parts two and three. Hopefully not a long one though. I'm also finally working on my original book again, so I'd really like to keep the momentum going on that. I want to be a published author so badly, but it's so hard to find the time to even look at my book these days.

Thank you so much for reading as always! I hope you guys are enjoying.

* * *

 **29 – Meteor – May 6, 2015**

"So what's the plan?" Aspen asked as she and Steve ran back to the others. It was really hard to focus, really hard to shake the buzz of hope and happiness that had come on in the form of a sudden question. She couldn't even allow herself to think about it right now, but she was sure as _hell_ not going to die up here if she could help it.

"I'm hoping Tony has something," Steve said. "Ultron's built some kind of vibranium core and he means to drop this rock. There's got to be a way to stop it."

" _Well good thing help came_ ," Natasha said into the comm. She came into sight a moment later along with something else. Something big. Aspen and Steve stopped short.

The Hellicarrier was hovering just off of the floating city. Nick Fury had come to their rescue. Steve glanced down at Aspen and she was smiling. "We're getting out of this," Aspen told him. "All of us."

"This is SHIELD?" Pietro asked as several transport crafts broke away from the Helicarrier and started toward them.

"This is what SHIELD's supposed to be," Steve replied.

"This is not so bad," Pietro replied.

"Let's load them up," Steve said as the transporters neared. They started moving, motioning for the people. Aspen used her powers to calm the crowd so there was no rushing or jostling. The people lined up to be rescued and everything was looking much more hopeful than it had a minute ago. They each took a transporter, moving the people toward it as quickly as they could. Aspen heard Tony's voice on the comm talking about the vibranium core and how they might be able to blow it.

Aspen loaded up one transporter with people and it headed back to the Hellicarrier. Most of the people were evacuated by now and her outlook on the situation had changed.

"Avengers, time to work for a living," Tony said. The Ultrons were coming for the core. It was time to work as a team to stop them. Aspen and Steve moved toward the church where the core was being housed. More Ultrons were coming out of the ground, flying at them from above, heading toward the same place. Steve used his shield to take them down while Aspen flung out her powers. They all congregated in the broken church around the metal core, standing in a circle around it. Pietro and Wanda joined them along with the android Tony had started calling Vision.

"What's the drill?" Natasha asked.

"This is the drill," Tony said, voice echoing from his Iron Man suit. He touched the core. "If Ultron gets his hands on the core, we lose."

The Ultrons had stopped coming, but Ultron himself drifted down from the sky. Thor turned to him and shouted, "Is that the best you can do?" Ultron silently lifted and hand and his minions started to pour from the streets and the demolished buildings.

"You had to ask," Steve said, throwing Thor a look.

"This is the best _I_ can do," Ultron said proudly. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me." He looked self satisfied, arrogant. He was sure he was going to win. "How could you possibly hope to stop me?" he asked.

"Like the old man said," Tony replied, turning to look at Steve. "Together."

Hulk let out a tremendous roar and the battle began. Together was their best and, despite being out numbered, they held their ground. Whatever discordance had affected them before was gone. Aspen held nothing back as she fought off the robots. She unleashed her powers, tearing the Ultrons apart. Steve used his fists to beat back the robots and kicked out, sending them flying. Pietro used his speed to rip apart their metal bodies while Wanda used her red energy to send them flying only to break apart midair. She looked determined more than frightened now, and Aspen was glad to have her on their side. Thor looked in his element, swinging his hammer. Tony blasted his repulsor rays while Natasha used her widow bites. Clint shot his arrows faster than the robots could come. Hulk ripped a robot apart with his teeth, flinging it aside like a toy. Vision blasted power from the Mind Stone, and Ultron flew up to meet him. The ray from Vision's head pushed Ultron back, sending him tumbling through the air out of the church. Ultron tried to recover, but Vision was relentless. Thor caught on to what he was doing and sent a bolt of lightning at Ultron. Tony landed next to them and sent streams of energy from his repulsor rays. Ultron slid backwards against the onslaught. His metal body was melting under the attack, and he collapsed on the ground. When they finally let up, he stumbled to his feet. Before he had the chance to counter attack, Hulk raced up, swinging his giant fist upward. Ultron went sailing, and his minions ran at the sound of Hulk's roar. They took to the sky and Vision, Thor, and Tony flew after them in pursuit. They couldn't let a single Ultron escape. As long as one lived, he could possess it. He needed to be eradicated until _he_ was extinct.

"We've got to get out," Steve said, turning to the rest of the team. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. I'll be right behind you."

"I'm coming with you," Aspen said. Steve didn't argue, just looked at her and nodded.

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda spoke up. They turned to look at her. "It's my job," she said, turning to look at Clint. He nodded, and Aspen had to smile. It looked as if Clint had recruited yet another Avenger.

"Nat? Let's go," Clint said. Natasha followed him while Aspen went after Steve in the opposite direction. She gave Wanda an encouraging smile as the girl stood protectively by the core, red energy tingling at her fingertips.

She and Steve searched the streets, coming across a few stragglers who were hiding out in buildings. They coaxed them out, instructing them to make a run for the transports. Aspen swept the city for stray heat signatures, but everyone was congregated on the rescue ships. They found their way back to the transports, meeting Thor.

"Is this the last of them?" Thor asked.

"Yeah," Steve replied as the small group they'd found hurried onto the transport. "Everyone else is on the carrier."

" _You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away_ ," Tony said.

"We've come this far," Aspen replied. "We can get out of this. We're so close." She refused to give up hope. "You're Tony Stark – you can figure this out. I have every faith in you."

" _Well I hope I don't let you down_."

The quiet air was getting thin, but a moment later the quiet was shattered by the sound of gunfire. Aspen looked and saw their jet charging around the corner. The guns were at full blast, sending out shells that tore at the ground and the ruined buildings and cars on the street. She, Steve, and Thor flung themselves out of the way as the bullets flew at them. She threw up her hands and shielded them. Bits of rubble from the street dropped down around them, stirring up the dust. Aspen saw motion in the corner of her eye and turned to see Clint pulling a boy out of a building across the road. He pulled the boy into his arms and turned to see the jet coming straight at him.

" _CLINT!_ " Aspen screamed. He looked at her, blue eyes reflecting fear and then calm. He turned his back to the jet, holding the boy close to him as if his body alone could protect him. Aspen started running, but Steve grabbed her arm. She wouldn't make it in time, but she didn't care. He wouldn't let her go though. Time seemed to slow as the jet went past. When the dust cleared, Aspen could see Clint holding the boy. Pietro stood before him, swaying. Bullet holes pierced his body, and blood was already soaking through his shirt. He collapsed a moment later. "No…"

Aspen took off and Steve replaced his shield on his back before running after her. Clint was kneeling over Pietro. He looked up at Steve and Aspen, his eyes filled with shock and sorrow. Aspen's vision blurred. He'd just been a kid. They'd hardly known him and yet he'd sacrificed his life to save Clint's. When they'd thought they wouldn't all make it out alive they hadn't meant Pietro. He wasn't responsible for Ultron. It hadn't been his job to die like this. Clint moved to pick up the little boy he'd rescued while Steve gently turned Pietro over. He brushed his fingers over his eyelashes, closing them so it looked like he was simply sleeping. He pulled the boy into his arms and started toward the transport without a word. He set him down on the ship while Clint returned the boy to his mother. She burst into tears, holding him tightly to her. Clint looked down at his hand. It was covered in blood, but he waved away the doctors. Aspen touched his arm, and he looked down at her. She said nothing, but he understood, pulling her tightly against him.

Steve had moved off, making sure the rest of the stragglers got onto the last transport. The city was looking empty, desolate – a wasteland. After Aspen pulled away from Clint, she stood at the edge of the transport feeling the weight of everything they had been through, all they had lost. She felt the pain of the people around her but instead of cutting it off, she let it in.

The silence was interrupted once more but this time when the sound of the Core awakening cut through the air. Steve turned and bolted for the transport, leaping onto it just in time as the chunk of Sokovia dropped beneath them like a meteor. He landed hard, and Aspen ran forward to pull him to his feet. She clung to him as they watched the city fall below. For a moment nothing happened. Then the meteor exploded. Bits and pieces scattered everywhere, dropping to the earth below. A giant crater lay below where the chunk of city had once resided. Water from one of the rivers was flowing into it creating a waterfall. Soon it would fill and become a lake, washing away the destruction. It would stand as a reminder of what was lost though.

It took Aspen a moment to realize that it was over. They'd made it through. Her eyes went to Pietro's body. Clint lay sprawled across the seats across from him looking drained. A hero's death. Did it really make the loss any easier? She thought of Wanda. Had she gotten out of the city in time? What must it be like to lose a twin? His sacrifice had saved lives, but sometimes the cost was unreasonably high. That was what it was to be an Avenger though. They sacrificed everything so that the world could live on another day. Looking around her at the people they'd saved, the families huddled together, the children embracing their mothers, Aspen knew she would have made the same sacrifice for them. What was the use of living and doing nothing when she had the power to do something? She had been lucky though. She hadn't lost anyone on her team. She was still alive. She turned to Steve and he gave her a tired smile. He sat down on the metal floor of the transport, and she sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"We made it," she said.

"Almost all of us." She could hear the pain in his voice and knew he was disappointed in himself for letting Pietro die.

"There wasn't anything we could have done. It happened too quickly. He made his choice and we should respect that."

"That's what Peggy said when Bucky died – when I _thought_ he'd died," Steve said softly.

"She was right. You would have done the same thing Pietro did because you're a hero. Pietro was a hero. He made the choice to save Clint."

"He was just a kid."

"He wasn't much younger than you when you sacrificed yourself to save the world in 1945. We're burdened with making these difficult choices but we've accepted that responsibility." Steve nodded wearily.

" _Vision just took down the last Ultron_ ," Tony's voice came in over their comms. " _It's over._ "

…

The next few days were both excruciatingly slow and a blur. The aftermath of Sokovia was all over the news, and there came a point when the TV just stayed off. They'd all seen the death count too often and it spoke of failure. Aspen wanted to focus on the people they'd saved.

She knew Tony was feeling guilty even if he didn't talk about it. When he announced that he was starting construction on a new Avengers facility two days after the battle, Aspen was surprised. Then he announced that he was retiring from the Avengers.

"You're _what_?" she asked.

She, Steve, and Natasha were sitting in the lounge of Avengers facility. It had been cleaned up though there were still burn marks in some of the sofas. Bruce had gone missing after Sokovia, taking the Avenjet and putting it in stealth mode so none of them could track him. Natasha had been subdued, and Aspen was waiting for the right moment to ask her about it. Clearly _something_ had happened between her and Bruce. Natasha had finally opened up to someone and now he was gone. Clint had gone straight home to be with his family. Before he'd left, he'd pulled Aspen into a long hug, clinging onto her as if he was afraid she'd slip away.

"I love you," he'd told her. "I'll see you soon." She hadn't realized it at first, but he hadn't meant he'd be back at the Tower. He wasn't coming back. He'd told her she could come and visit whenever she liked, that she was family, but he was retiring from the Avengers like Tony. It had hit her hard and now Tony's announcement made her question the future of the Avengers. Thor was going back to Asgard after he settled things on Earth. He was currently with Jane, and Aspen wondered how many more goodbyes they would all have to endure.

"Retiring. Calling it quits. Stepping down," he clarified.

"I understand what 'retire' means. I'm asking why," Aspen said. "Why are you leaving?"

Tony sighed. "When I created Ultron, I had this vision in my mind. I wanted to create something that would make it so we could _all_ retire, live semi-normal lives. We deserve that, right? I think we deserve that after everything. But it didn't turn out like I planned. In fact, it showed me that the world still needs heroes. I'm just not sure I'm one of them."

"Tony, you didn't mean for any of that to happen," Aspen said. "Yes, you can be a complete shell-head sometimes." He gave her an indignant look. "But you're also a genius with a big heart who always _tries_ to do the best he can for the world. You had a good idea, it just didn't work out. Ultron might have learned a lot from you, but he didn't learn that hatred from you."

"I'm to the point where I need to choose," Tony told her. "I hardly spend time with Pepper these days. I was supposed to be done creating suits, but look where that got me." He looked at Steve. "It's time I stepped aside and let the real leader lead. It's your team now, Cap. You might need a few new recruits. I think I have some ideas."

"You're serious about this."

His eyes flicked back to Aspen. "Yeah, I am," he said. "I'm building this new facility for you guys. You need a new start."

"It won't be the same," Aspen said. Without Clint, without Thor, without Tony.

"No, it won't. I know you don't like change, but sometimes change is for the better. I'll still pop in from time to time, pay the bills, design killer suits for everyone."

Aspen looked around at the remaining Avengers. Steve and Natasha looked a little lost. Steve's brow was furrowed, and Natasha was staring down at the floor, her eyes vacant. As Steve and Tony started discussing potential recruits, Natasha got up, heading toward the platform outside. Aspen followed her out, leaning against the wall that overlooked the city next to the redheaded spy.

"So. Are we going to talk about this?" Aspen asked. "And I don't mean Tony's announcement."

"What's there to discuss?" Natasha asked.

"You don't get to play that card with me. We're friends. Friends talk and friends listen. Now talk."

Natasha's lips quirked up in a smile. "I think my training is rubbing off a little too much on you. When did you get so bossy?"

"Assertive, and I need to be to deal with Tony on a daily basis."

Natasha was quiet for a moment. "He was so different," she said finally. "Quiet, reserved; a pacifist, not a fighter. I guess I was just drawn to that. My whole life I've been around people either looking for a fight or fighting for something. He didn't want any part of a fight though. It fascinated me. It was something I couldn't quite understand but had always secretly desired. I guess he made me feel like there could be something outside of fighting, that there was more out there." She shook her head, a wistful smile on her lips. "It's silly."

"It's not. You felt safe around him because he isn't a fighter or a spy or a soldier. He's not exactly normal, but about as normal as an Avenger comes. I miss him. I always really liked spending time around him because he got along with everyone and was so calm about everything which is funny considering the Hulk transforms out of anger…"

"Everyone has two sides."

"He left to protect you, you know. And to protect the world. After South Africa, he thinks he's a threat."

"That wasn't him."

"I know. The world doesn't know it though, and you know what the world can be like. Give him some time. He needs to figure this out on his own." She hesitated but then reached out a hand to touch Natasha's. "You're not alone. Steve and I aren't going anywhere. We're still a team. Unless you're thinking about retiring?"

Natasha shook her head. "No. I wouldn't know what else to do with my life. Besides, Steve's going to need some help whipping the newbies into shape."

"Do you think Wanda will join?" Wanda had come back with them having nowhere else to go, but she'd spent most of her time in the room Tony had given her, grieving for her brother. They'd let her, offering her anything she needed but keeping their distance.

"I think she will," Natasha said. "She's suffered a lot, but I think she found some redemption in fighting for her people. Without her brother, she needs a family. We can offer her that."

"I'll talk to her," Aspen said. "I want her to know she's not alone."

"It sounds like Vision is staying too," Natasha said. "Like the rest of us, he doesn't really have anywhere else to go."

"We're the only ones who really understand him," Aspen said. "Well, at least we're trying. I might have studied genetics for awhile, but this is way over my head."

Natasha turned as the door opened and Steve came outside. "I'll let you two talk," she said, giving Steve a knowing smile. She moved off, leaving them alone.

"Does she know?" Aspen asked, watching her go.

"I think she's guessed. Can't hide much from her," Steve said, joining Aspen at the wall. They hadn't told anyone about their engagement yet. In the wake of Sokovia it hadn't seemed like the right time. "I have something for you," Steve told her, pulling something out of his pocket. A ring glinted in the sunlight. "It's the one I meant to give you but inconveniently didn't have in Sokovia."

"I'm surprised you didn't bring it with you. After all, flying cities swarming with robots are definitely the most romantic place to propose." Her heart gave a little flutter at the word. It hadn't sunk in yet. She kept thinking she'd dreamt it up, but the way Steve was looking at her now brought it all back.

"It'll be an interesting story," he said.

Aspen held out her hand to him. "Shall we make it official? You don't have to kneel or anything."

He took her hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger. "We might have to make that announcement after all," he said.

"I want them to all be here," she told him. "All the people we care about."

"Then we'll wait until they're all here," he said. "Just keep the ring, but you can wear it after we make the announcement. I'm happy just knowing your answer."

"I can't believe this is actually happening," she said, looking down at the ring.

"Me neither. I never had any question about being with you but this life… I guess I never considered that we could still try to have a semi-normal life despite what we do."

"This _is_ normal for us. I think we just need to accept that. It's been normal for us for a very long time. We just haven't realized it. It's like the serum. I fought it for so long but now it's a part of me. We're where we belong and we're together – that's what's important. We might not get a farm like Clint, but we have each other. That's all I want. If I had nothing else in this world but you, I would be happy."

He slid his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. "We're starting a new adventure," he said, "but as long as you're coming with me, I'm not worried."


	32. New Avengers

**Author's Note:** Here ends part two! That was a long one. I'm not done with the next chapter, so there will be a bit of a break, but I'll try to keep writing. I just need a day off. I'm already ready for the summer to be over. I worked too many hours last summer and I'm working 20 hours more a week this summer... Anyway, thank you so much for reading and for the favorites and follows and reviews! I love hearing from you guys! I'm going to see Civil War on Sunday (for the fourth time...) so that should get me some motivation!

* * *

 **30 – New Avengers – May 28, 2015**

Tonight was their last night in the Tower. Construction on the new Avengers facility was nearly complete and they would be moving in to train their new recruits. Aspen had talked to Wanda, and the Sokovian girl had expressed an interest in joining the team. Steve could already see a bond forming between the two girls. Sam had decided to join the Avengers finally, and Steve was happy about that. Rhodey had also joined though he still had duties as a Colonel in the Air Force. Tony had officially stepped down, and Steve and Natasha would head the new team of Avengers. Steve had told Aspen she had an equal role, but she'd told him he and Natasha were the natural leaders. She was happy to just be a part of the team. Vision was coming to the new facility as well and though he was still picking up on human behavior, it would be good to have him on the team. Bruce was still M.I.A. and Thor would be leaving in two days for Asgard. The change was unsettling. Steve had come out of the ice and straight into this team. Now everything was changing, people were leaving – some maybe for good. It felt wrong but, as they gathered together tonight for a celebratory dinner, he realized these people would always be a part of his life. Tony had finally gotten Pepper to take some time off and Clint had flown in for a visit. The old team and the new team sat together laughing and sharing stories. As dinner dwindled down, Aspen caught Steve's eye.

"There's something Aspen and I have been wanting to tell everyone," Steve spoke up. He stood, pulling Aspen to her feet, holding the hand that bore the ring. "I asked her to marry me."

"I said 'yes,' obviously," Aspen added. Her smile lit up her face and her eyes. Steve smiled back.

The others started congratulating them. Natasha didn't look surprised. She gave Steve an approving nod. Everyone was clapping him on the shoulder and hugging Aspen. Clint grabbed Steve's hand. "You're the only one good enough for my girl," he said.

"You'll walk me down the aisle at the wedding, right?" Aspen asked Clint as he reached over to hug her. Steve swore he saw a tear in Clint's eye as he pulled Aspen into a tight hug.

"You just try and stop me," he told her.

"I'm happy for you," Wanda said, coming up to Steve. "I haven't known either of you for long, but you both showed me forgiveness and kindness even after what I'd done to you. I look forward to getting to know both of you better."

"Same," Steve said, smiling at her. She was looking much happier though he knew she missed her brother terribly. Losing someone wasn't something you got over in a few weeks or even a few years. It lived on as an ache in the heart.

"I'll pay for everything," Tony was saying. "Have you set a date?"

"We hadn't really thought that far ahead yet," Aspen said, looking at Steve. "I haven't even told my mom yet. I'll call her tonight, but I wanted you guys to be the first we told. You're our family." She looked around at each of them. "You will always be whether or not you're on the new team. I've been so blessed." She turned to look at Steve. "I sometimes can't even believe what I've been given in this life. I started out so alone and now I have the most incredible friends and the most incredible fiancé. I'm lucky. And I'm so grateful to each of you for all the kindness and acceptance you've shown me. I wouldn't be here today without you, so thank you."

The rest of the night they talked and laughed until the night grew old, and they headed to bed. Aspen slept soundly, but Steve had trouble falling asleep. He felt restless even though he felt happier than he ever had before. Sometimes the lingering feeling of not belonging crept up on him when he least expected it. Nothing about his world was normal, but in a normal world he would have lived through the 1940s. He would never have met Aspen. He had cheated death, and sometimes he expected this new life he'd found to come crashing down around him. He looked down at Aspen, reaching out a hand to run along her arm. Her skin was soft and warm under his touch, and she stirred, turning over and nestling her head against his shoulder. He leaned his head into her and put an arm around her. This was no illusion. This was _real_.

Aspen lifted her head a moment later, and he realized he'd woken her. "Hey, you okay?" she asked sleepily, blinking down at him. Her red hair fell over her shoulders in a wavy curtain, and the moonlight from the window glinted in her eyes, lightening the green.

"Let's get married soon," Steve said. "As soon as possible."

Aspen grinned. "What's the rush? Afraid I'll run off with someone else?" she teased him.

"I just don't want to wait," he told her. "I…" He didn't want to tell her he was afraid of losing her. He wasn't sure why he had that fear when she was right here.

"I don't want to wait either," she said. She put a hand on his heart. "When do you want to get married then?"

"July? We don't have to rush. By then we should be settled into the new facility."

"I like the sound of July. I don't want a fancy wedding. I don't care what Tony says. I just want all my friends and family there. I don't need anything more than that and you to make me happy."

He smiled up at her. "That sounds perfect."

She leaned down and brushed her lips against his. His heart beat a little faster. When she pulled away, she settled herself next to him again. It didn't take him long to fall asleep after that, holding her close and thinking of the future he never thought he'd have.

…

Aspen was dressed in the suit Tony had designed for her. The new facility had been completed, and she and Steve were moved in. It was a change. The Tower had been her home for a year, but the new facility was already starting to feel like home. She realized home was wherever her team was not where she rested her head at night. Today was the first day the new team would gather, and Aspen felt an air of excitement. It was strange thinking that she was now a senior Avenger.

She saw Tony's Audi from the window and hurried down to meet him and Steve. Thor was leaving today, but Aspen hadn't found the bravery to tell him about Loki. Maybe it was selfish of her but she didn't want him to leave angry with her. She didn't know when she might see him next. When she caught up to him, Tony, and Steve they were discussing Vision and the hammer. Clearly they hadn't let that go yet. Thor told them that as long as Vision was worthy of Mjolnir, the Mind Stone was safe with him.

"And these days safe is in short supply," he added, growing serious.

There was a pause and then Steve said, "But if you put the hammer in an elevator…" He looked pensive.

"It'd still go up," Tony finished Steve's thought.

"Elevator's not worthy," Steve said, shaking his head.

"You are a complete dork," Aspen said, sliding her arm around Steve. "Actually you all are."

"I'm going to miss these little talks of ours," Thor said, grasping Tony's shoulder.

"Well, not if you don't leave," Tony said.

They started walking again as Thor replied. "I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the infinity stones to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us."

They walked outside into the warm air, but Aspen suddenly felt cold. Was Loki the one messing with the stones? She missed the rest of their conversation, her thoughts flitting back to Loki and any of the stones she might have come across. The Tesseract was one, she knew that much, and it was lying in Odin's treasure chamber with the Infinity Gauntlet – the device that could control all the stones. Loki already had what he wanted though. Why would he be doing this?

The sound of a portal opening cut off her thoughts. Thor nodded to them and raised his hammer. Aspen opened her mouth but he was already gone, leaving an Asgardian rune burned into the grass.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony said, staring down at the burning symbol.

"I think it's cool," Aspen said. She tried to tamp down her worry. Loki wouldn't be the one behind the stones. He had what he wanted. The only reason he'd invaded Earth was because the throne of Asgard had been denied to him. He had no reason to try to take Earth all over again.

"I'm gonna miss him though," Tony said. "And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears." He clicked the remote for his car and his orange Audi rumbled to life, pulling up alongside him.

"I will miss you, Tony," Steve said. Aspen smiled. She could hear the honesty in his voice. Even if he and Tony didn't always see eye-to-eye, they'd learned to be friends, to put their differences aside and work together.

"Yeah?" Tony sounded gratified at Steve's response. "Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I'll take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper a farm. Hope no one blows it up."

"The simple life."

Aspen wasn't sure she could see Tony living a simple life, but she liked the idea of him spending more time with Pepper. She couldn't, however, see Tony managing a farm. "You'd probably end up blowing it up yourself somehow," she said. Tony looked over at her.

"And you," he said. "I'm still paying for your wedding. Don't give me any of that 'I don't want a big wedding' crap."

"Oh I'll miss playing 'who can be the most stubborn' with you," Aspen said, going over to wrap her arms around him. Tony hugged her back.

"Well you'll have to call me when you feel like arguing with someone," he said, pulling away. "Don't be a stranger. Either of you."

"We won't," Steve promised. They watched Tony drive off, and Aspen was surprised to find she already missed him. Yes he was arrogant and impossible half the time. He refused to admit when he was wrong and often caused more things to go wrong trying to fix his mistakes. But he tried, and he cared. He put his life on the line for others and was one of the truest friends she could ever ask for. "Ready to go meet the new team?" Steve asked, holding out a hand. Aspen smiled, blinking away the tears that had suddenly sprung into her eyes. She took his hand, ring glinting in the sunlight. They reentered the facility together.

"I'm going to find Nat," Steve said. "Meet you there?"

Aspen nodded. "She's been thinking about Bruce a lot," she said. "She thought maybe he'd be back by now but I don't think he's coming back."

"He takes the blame for South Africa."

"It wasn't his fault."

"I know that, you know that, but the world doesn't know that," Steve said gently.

"Now he's on the run again. He has to go into hiding. It isn't fair."

"No, it's not. Bruce deserves better and so does the Hulk. We can't make him come back though. That has to be his choice. Nat knows that even if she doesn't like it."

"I just don't want her to recede into herself again," Aspen told him. "She opened up to him even if it was just letting herself feel something. I don't want her to keep all the pain from her past to herself. She deserves better than that."

"She's lucky to have a friend like you," Steve told her.

"Like _us_."

"We'll look out for her like we always do," Steve promised.

Aspen's phone buzzed as he walked away and she looked down to see that she had a picture message from Clint. _Meet your new little brother_ , he'd written. The picture was of a newborn wearing a bib that read Nathaniel Pietro Barton. Aspen smiled down at the picture. _Congratulations_ , she texted back. _I can't wait to meet him_.

She couldn't take her eyes off the picture. Looking at the photo, she felt this feeling she'd never felt before. She couldn't put a name to it. She didn't quite understand it but looking down at the picture of Clint's newborn son made her think of what it might be like to hold a baby like that. She'd always rejected the idea of having a family, of having children. In this life it seemed impossible, but Clint was proof that it wasn't. Her heart burned with both fear and hope. She looked down at her engagement ring. Her life was changing. Things that had seemed impossible or far off in the future were happening in the present. It was terrifying and yet made her happier than she could say.

Natasha and Steve came around the corner, and Aspen stowed her phone away. Whatever her future held, today was about their new team. Steve pushed through the doors ahead of them, Natasha and Aspen following behind. Rhodey was in his War Machine suit. He lifted the faceplate as they entered. Vision turned to face them, the Mind Stone glinting at his brow. Sam dropped from the sky, his Falcon wings folding down. He looked thrilled to be there. Wanda floated gracefully down from the air, her red energy glowing at her fingers. She looked eager too, happier than she had in the previous weeks. They all looked up at Steve, and Aspen felt a surge of pride. This was their team, and she couldn't wait to train with them.

Steve assessed them for a moment before saying, "Avengers….assemble."


	33. Part Three: United We Stand

**Author's Note:** Sorry for such a long wait! Work is consuming my life. At least by the time I actually get to write Civil War the DVD will be out so I can watch it a million times and get inspired. Anyway, thank you as always for reading!

* * *

 **Part Three: United We Stand**

 **Prologue – October 11, 1934**

"You've got to ask her," a seventeen-year-old Bucky Barnes insisted, putting a hand on his best friend's bony shoulder.

"She doesn't even know who I am," Steve Rogers replied, casting a nervous glance toward the brunette his friend was trying to hook him up with. "She looks right through me."

"Well if you go introduce yourself she'll know who you are," Bucky said.

Steve appreciated what his friend was trying to do but asking a girl to a dance was no easy task. It was easy for Bucky with his thick, dark hair and serious blue eyes. The girls were always fawning over him and he certainly had the confidence to ask them out.

"It's just a dance." Their school was hosting a fall formal and Bucky already had a date. Steve had had every intention of sitting it out, staying home and maybe finishing the drawing he'd started. The idea of asking out this girl – any girl – terrified him. Bucky was insistent though. He told Steve he didn't like the thought of him sitting at home all alone, but Steve really didn't mind being alone. He'd been alone for most his life save Bucky.

"The worst she can say is no," Bucky continued to prod.

"I can imagine something worse than that," Steve told him. She could say nothing. She could give him the familiar distasteful look that came with him being too small and too skinny. She could laugh. No, Steve was much more comfortable not knowing what her answer was.

"Come on, I've got your back," Bucky said. He gave Steve a little nudge and Steve half tripped across the sidewalk toward the girl. She was standing with her blonde friend, chatting animatedly and completely oblivious to Steve's presence. Then her friend turned and caught sight of Bucky.

"Bucky!" she called out, giving a little wave. Her friend turned and her eyes widened as she caught sight of Bucky.

"Hey girls," Bucky said. "This is my friend Steve." He joined Steve and motioned to him as he made the introduction. The girls' eyes flitted over Steve before going back to Bucky.

"Are you going to the dance?" the blonde asked.

"Er, yeah, I am," Bucky said, rubbing his neck and glancing at Steve. "Steve here needs a date still."

"Oh, well, I think there are a few girls who still need a date. Stacy Carper was still looking for one," the blonde suggested. The brunette said nothing. Steve slipped away as they started chatting animatedly to Bucky.

"Hey, where are you headed?" Bucky caught up to him, and Steve saw the girls watching his friend with disappointed eyes.

"Home," Steve told him. "I'm not going to the dance, Buck. They don't want to go with me."

"You heard her, Stacy Carper was still looking for a date. She's pretty…or she might be if she ditched the glasses and combed her hair from time to time. Never mind her though. There are plenty of girls left to ask."

"Give it up, Buck. I'm fine, really. I'm just not meant to go dancing or date girls like you do."

"You'll find the right girl," Bucky told him. "Any girl would be lucky to have you."

Steve smiled at his friend. "Thanks," he said softly. He wasn't as optimistic as Bucky, but he was grateful that his friend kept encouraging him. The right girl was out there somewhere. He just hoped he'd know her when he saw her.


	34. Malibu

**31 – Malibu – June 21, 2015**

"You're putting too much force behind it," Aspen called out to Wanda as the girl struck out at one of the training dummies. "If you put out too much energy it will leave you feeling drained. It's all about using just enough force."

Wanda nodded, her eyes determined, and struck out at the next training dummy that came at her. Two more appeared and she took care of them too, concentrating her energy, pulling back just enough to conserve herself.

"Good!" Aspen pushed a button on her tablet to end the simulation. "You're really improving."

"It feels good," Wanda said with a smile. She lifted her hand, the red energy weaving through her black-painted nails and across her palm. "To be in control."

"Well you were pretty well in control of your powers before. Just maybe not using them quite right."

"You shouldn't be working so hard on your birthday." Aspen turned around to find Steve leaning against the doorway. He had already changed out of his jogging clothes, and she imagined Sam was still trying to catch up somewhere.

"Well, I woke up and you were already probably twenty miles into your run, so I figured why not get a little training in?"

"You're doing really well," Steve said, turning to Wanda. She ducked her head in acknowledgment.

"I have a good mentor." Aspen had taken Wanda under her wing, working as her personal mentor to train her. Everyone had skills already, but it was a matter of using them together as a team. Natasha, Steve, and Aspen worked together like a well-oiled machine but the others were still working out the kinks. They were strong though. Aspen couldn't have imagined a better line up. She missed her old team too. It was odd not hearing Tony talking too much or having Bruce's quiet presence in the lab. She missed Thor's loud laugh. She missed Clint the most, but she also talked to him almost every day.

"Well, I'm going to steal her away now," Steve said. "Just for a few hours."

"Go," Wanda said. "Celebrate your birthday. You deserve it."

Aspen took Steve's hand and he led her out of the training room and toward the doors to the facility. The June air was warm verging on hot, but Aspen loved it. She spent as much of her free time outside when she could. The New Avengers facility was located near a river and the land around it was lush and green. There were trees surrounding most of it and keeping it from prying eyes. It had once been one of Howard Stark's facilities. Steve had actually been there before when Tony had asked for his help investigating a break in. With renovations complete, the new team spent most of their time there, everyone but Rhodey moving in permanently. They had a shared kitchen and lounge that also included a long table for discussions. Aspen was liking the layout – she didn't have to use the elevator to go hang out with her team as all their rooms branched off from the same floor. Phoenix was free to roam as she pleased and had taken an immediate liking to Wanda. Vision, however, Phoenix seemed to be unsure of. Perhaps it had something to do with his tendency to appear through walls at random.

The engagement ring on Aspen's left hand glinted in the sunlight and she felt a trill of happiness. June had gone by in a flurry of training and missions and adjustment and July was coming on fast. They lived hectic lives, and neither of them had had much time to plan for the wedding. As the new leader of the team, Steve had more responsibilities though Natasha and Aspen helped as much as they could. Aspen had never seen the team work together as smoothly as it had in the last month. Even with new members with new abilities, everyone looked up to Steve and there was no clashing of wills between him and Tony anymore. It was a much more relaxed, Aspen thought, feeling slightly guilty for thinking so.

"So where are you taking me?" Aspen asked as they reached the road.

"Out," was all Steve said.

Aspen saw his motorcycle parked ahead, and he handed her a helmet when they reached it. She took it and climbed on behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He revved the engine and they took off away from the facility. Aspen rarely left the facility these days. Perhaps it was because everything she needed was right there. Now though she felt a release as if she'd been holding tension in her shoulders and hadn't realized it. Clint always told her she worked too hard. Maybe he was right.

Who knew the rush of wind could feel so freeing? She loved riding on Steve's motorcycle, arms wrapped around him, head rested against his shoulder. For once it was just the two of them and a rare moment of time when no one needed them and nothing occupied their minds except each other and the beautiful day surrounding them.

They turned off when they neared the city, veering toward where arrows and signs pointed to the airport. Aspen was surprised when they pulled up along the outskirts of the airport. A lone plane stood waiting, and she saw the familiar 'Stark Industries' logo on the outside. Steve pulled the motorcycle up to the plane and stopped, cutting the engine. "Out?" Aspen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We never did get that vacation," he said by way of explanation.

"I didn't pack anything."

"Nat packed a bag for you before we left," he told her. "It's already on the plane."

"You thought this out, didn't you," she said with a smile.

"Clint was right - you do work too hard. Natasha will keep things going while we're gone," Steve assured her.

"I suppose the team can function without us for a few days." Aspen got off of the motorcycle and left the helmet, following Steve to the plane. "Where exactly are we going?" she asked.

"Where do you want to go?" he countered.

She opened her mouth, but she didn't have an answer to that. "Anywhere?" she asked.

"Anywhere," he confirmed.

Aspen paused for a moment, envisioning a map of the world in her head. She wished she had a globe so she could spin it and point her finger on a random spot like she'd done as a child. _Where will I live when I grow up?_ She'd always ended up stranded in the Pacific Ocean or somewhere north of Canada. There were places she'd seen briefly in their travels but hadn't had time to enjoy and then there were places she'd always wanted to go and never found the time. There were also places she never wanted to go again. Iceland was one though she wished she didn't connect it with the bad memories. Madripoor was another, but she wasn't too disappointed about that. Steve waited patiently while she thought though the hot June air was pushing unforgivingly against them, any breeze only ruffling the waves of heat rather than dissipating them.

"What about California?" she asked. "I know it's cliché but I'm imagining myself standing in the ocean."

"Tony did say his house in Malibu was open to us whenever we wanted," Steve said. "He's in New York right now. I can send him a text."

"Let's do it. I've always wanted to see his Malibu house. I bet it's ridiculous." Aspen was getting excited. Usually when they travelled it was because the world was at risk or something equally stressful but for once that wasn't why they were going somewhere.

"Let's get on the plane and get out of this heat." She liked that suggestion, so they boarded, Steve pulling out his phone and shooting off a message to Tony. The reply dinged half a minute later. "He said 'it's about time' and that he's changing security to let us in." He gave directions to the pilot and the plane lifted, leaving the tarmac behind. Aspen could see heat rising from the ground below. Steve's motorcycle had been loaded into the plane because of course there was a special spot for it to travel, and Aspen took the chance to look around the cabin. The seats were actually couches though there were a few smaller seats with seatbelts. It was carpeted with plush carpet and a mini bar sat along the front by the cockpit. Aspen got up after the plane was level and searched the bar. It was completely stocked with every type of drink for every type of person. The snacks were filled too, and Aspen grabbed a handful before returning to the couch. She dumped the food on the table and ripped into a candy bar.

"I could get used to travelling like this," she said, grinning widely.

"Tony does know how to travel in style." Steve sounded somewhat disapproving, but he accepted the candy bar Aspen handed him.

Aspen turned on the seat, tucking her knee up so that she could face Steve. "This is exciting. I feel like I've never really gone on a legitimate vacation. It feels weird. I didn't tell Phoenix goodbye."

"She'll be fine. Natasha and Wanda are going to take care of her."

"Then she's in good hands." Aspen tried to relax, but there was always that underlying tension she couldn't quite shake. She was used to being on edge. Used to preparing for the worst. Sometimes you just needed to prepare for the best though. "Did you pack your shield?" she asked Steve casually.

"Force of habit," he said, looking slightly guilty.

"After everything we've been through, I should hope so," she said. "With our luck, Hydra will probably have a secret hideout near the beach."

Normally the flight would have taken over five hours, but in Tony's plane it took three. When the coast came into sight, Aspen pressed her face to the window. The ocean was beautiful. She remembered going to the coast as a child, building sandcastles along the beach. She was young so the memories were spotted and incomplete, but she'd never forgotten that feeling of being so small when she stood in the ocean's shallow surf, letting it bury her feet with sand. Sometimes she needed that reminder that the world was much bigger than her. Sometimes she forgot she couldn't shoulder the weight of it alone.

Tony's house was a whole different kind of beautiful. It was the kind that screamed millions of dollars and no expense spared. It was all round shapes and glass with a perfect view of the ocean from every room. Trees gave the front privacy, and Aspen could see a long, winding drive as the plane dropped altitude. The plane landed right on the estate. When the pilot opened the door for them, the hot air blasted their faces. Aspen put her sunglasses on and stepped out onto the lawn. It was beautifully kept, of course. No signs of any Asgardian symbols. The pilot helped them with their luggage and unloaded Steve's motorcycle.

"Just give me a call the day before you're ready to leave," he told them, handing Steve a card with his number. "Mr. Stark wants you to have every luxury during your stay. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"I think we're good," Aspen said. "Thank you."

"Of course."

They turned toward the house as the plane took off. It was even more incredible close up. Aspen knew Tony had rebuilt it after the Mandarin incident. Half of it had ended up in the ocean, but now it was impossible to tell that anything of the kind had ever happened. They reached the front doors and a female AI greeted them.

"Good afternoon Ms. Tolvar, Captain Rogers. Welcome to Malibu." The doors opened, and they stepped into the foyer. Shining hardwood floors led down a flight of three steps and to an expansive lounge that overlooked the ocean. Plush, white carpeting resided in this part of the mansion, and Aspen kicked off her shoes before heading downstairs. The kitchen and dining area were off of the lounge as well, and everything was state of the art. There was a spiral staircase that led up and down near the front entrance as well as a hallway on either side of the lounge. Everything was quiet and calm, and Aspen felt herself relax.

"What do you want to do first?" Steve asked, coming up beside her.

"Everything. Swim, lay on the beach and read – when's the last time I had time to read? – eat ice cream, explore, make a sandcastle." She stopped there. "That's it," she told him. "I want to make a sandcastle."

Steve grinned at her. "I somehow doubt Tony keeps molds around, but I think you're talented enough without them."

"I hope you and Natasha packed swimsuits for yourself and me," she said. "And sunblock."

"We prepared for every type of climate," he assured her. "Except really cold, but we didn't think you'd pick somewhere cold."

"I hate the cold."

"I know."

Another bad memory. Cold reminded her of running through the snow in Canada after Doctor Rinehart kidnapped her. It reminded her of almost dying. She never wanted to feel that cold again.

Aspen grabbed her suitcase. "Let's find the room we want and change. I want to finish before the tides come in."

…

The rest of the afternoon was spent half buried in the warm, golden sand, digging motes with their hands cupped like shovels and forging towers and bridges with careful finesse. There was nothing rushed about it. Their quiet conversation was interrupted only by the sound of waves and seagulls. When they'd finished building, they stood back to admire their work.

"It doesn't actually look like a two year old built it," Aspen said.

"I don't think I'd actually ever built a sandcastle before, so I think it's pretty good all things considered."

Aspen turned to Steve. "I'm sorry, what? You've never built a sandcastle before?"

He chuckled. "I grew up in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. You grew up near the Oregon Coast."

"Okay, fair point. Any other things you didn't do as a child that we need to quickly remedy?"

"Today is _your_ day. We're doing things you want to do," he told her, putting an arm around her and drawing her closer.

"I'm at a total loss. I don't know how to have fun."

"We're having fun now. What else would be fun?"

The sun was getting hot, and Aspen was ready to get out of its direct rays. "Ice cream?" she suggested. "We can take your bike and see a little of the city."

"Perfect." He planted a kiss on her head and took her hand. They left their castle and their footprints behind, brushing the sand from their feet and legs and arms before stepping inside the mansion. Aspen still had sand in her hair, but she found she didn't mind. They rode Steve's motorcycle into the town. Malibu was much smaller than Aspen had expected, twenty-one miles of one of the most beautiful views she'd ever seen. There were a lot of tourists passing through, and Aspen tried to pretend she wasn't one of them. Really though, she liked that simple name: tourist. There was something carefree about it. She usually carried a much heavier name. She was happy to set aside 'Avenger' for a day and call herself something less weighty.

They found an ice cream parlor overlooking the ocean. It sold Gelato instead of ice cream, but Aspen didn't care. It was cold and felt particularly wonderful after a day in the sun. No one recognized them here. She saw Steve glancing around occasionally, watching the faces to make sure he was still anonymous but no one noticed them and with his shades, Steve blended in. After their gelatos they walked the town hand-in-hand. There was nothing hurried about Malibu. Time seemed to have no place here, and when the sun started to set, Aspen was surprised it was evening already. They went to dinner at a restaurant they couldn't afford, but Tony had texted Steve that evening telling him they had reservations there at seven, and it was on Tony's tab.

 _Happy birthday_ , he'd texted Aspen. _Enjoy the house. ;)_

Aspen wasn't quite sure what to make of the latter half of his text, but she smiled anyway. After dinner they walked back to where they'd parked Steve's motorcycle and rode back to the house.

"Did you have a good birthday?" Steve asked when they'd settled into the bed in the master suite, watching the moon as it rose above the ocean.

"It was perfect," she said, smiling up at him. "I liked my birthday in Paris too though. Remember how you bought me art supplies? We kissed at the top of the Eiffel Tower. That was a good one too. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow."

"Me too," he said, kissing her lightly before turning out the light.

The problem with having a perfect day was that there was always the day _after_ the perfect day.


	35. Crossbones

**Author's Note:** I don't ever get to take vacations, so I'm making sure Steve and Aspen don't either. Haha, kidding, but no really. I'm not good at righting rest and relaxation scenes, so they're going to have their vacation get a little disrupted. Just a wee bit. Nothing major, just some explosions and fights and high-speed car chases.

* * *

 **32 – Crossbones – June 22, 2015**

Steve awoke in the early hours of the morning as the sun rose over the horizon. Aspen was curled up beside him, her head rested on his chest and her arm draped over his stomach. She was still sleeping peaceful, so he took care not to wake her. It felt strange not needing to get up and rush somewhere or train someone. He knew the Avengers were in good hands – Natasha could more than handle any situation thrown her way – but it felt strange being relived of those duties for even a short while. His eyes flitted to where his shield lay propped against the wall. Okay, so perhaps not relieved of his duties. Aspen wasn't the only one who had trouble setting aside the role of Avenger for even a day. He hadn't had a break really since waking up from the ice. Two weeks after his awakening he'd been thrust into the Battle of New York and then he'd followed Aspen to Iceland and shortly after that DC and the Hydra takeover had happened. Then Ultron. Not to mention all the other threats they'd handled in between. Captain America had become his life so entirely that sometimes he felt as if Steve Rogers disappeared. His identity blurred into the red, white, and blue mantle he'd taken on during World War II. He wasn't ready to put down the shield, but if he did, if he gave up the role of Captain America, would there be something left? Would Steve Rogers have a place in this world without the shield?

Aspen stirred, and he pushed those thoughts away. She was always good at reading him, and he didn't want her to worry. "Morning," she said, stretching her arm out before sitting upright. "Can you imagine waking up to this every morning?" she asked, looking out over the ocean as the sun painted the rippling waves shades of pink and orange. It reminded Steve of water colors spilled out across a canvas, and he found he wanted to draw it. He sat up in bed, pushing the pillow behind him and grabbed his drawing pad and pencils from the bedside table. He'd placed them there with the intent of drawing something out in the city, but this was too perfect a moment to pass up. The sun was already rising higher, the colors merging into a solid strip of blinding yellow, but he'd memorized the colors and drew them out, coloring in with the colored pencils Aspen had bought him last year for Christmas. She sat quietly next to him, letting him sketch. It was hard to find time these days to devote to his art, but Aspen had been his strongest supporter, encouraging him to draw in whatever snatches of time he had and buying him art supplies every chance she got. In turn he'd encouraged her photography. She gotten quite good and he was hoping to surprise her soon by getting her photos accepted into a New York gallery. She focused a lot on black and white and had photographed a lot of the architecture around New York – not the typical landmarks like most people took pictures of, but the behind the scenes photos. She liked alleys and run-down apartments. She'd take pictures of homeless people and overfilled trashcans. Somehow everything became art once it was in front of the lens of her camera. She'd joked around before about having art as something to do for a living if they ever quit the Avengers. He knew she was joking, but it was nice to know there was something they could do as themselves and not the superheroes the world knew.

He finished off his drawing with the outline of the ceiling to floor windows. Setting down his pencils, he turned to Aspen. "It's gorgeous," she said. "You never cease to amaze me. I bet you would have been a famous artist if you hadn't joined the war. I would have gone to art museums and looked at your drawings and wished I could have known you."

It was kind of a sad thought whether she meant it to be or not. Steve set aside his pencils and sketchpad and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into him and kissing her hair. "What do you want to do today?"

"I wouldn't mind sitting around in Tony's lounge drinking his expensive coffee and pretending I'm used to this life."

"Sounds good to me." Aspen went off to make coffee while Steve dressed and cleaned up his art supplies. The sun was bearing down on the house, but the air conditioning warded the heat off. Aspen had opened up the sliding glass doors in the living room area letting a hot breeze stir the air. It was so calm and serene, the distant crashing of waves and high-pitched cries of seagulls the only sounds interrupting the morning. Steve felt himself relax. Aspen set two cups of coffee down on the table and they sat on Tony's white, plush sofa.

"I had a dream last night," Steve told her. "I was back in high school with Bucky and he was trying to get me to ask a girl to the school dance."

Aspen turned her eyes to him, a smile lighting her face. She loved hearing stories of his past life. Especially if they involved Bucky. "Did you ask her?"

"I didn't really get the chance. She and her friend were more interested in Bucky and I just kind of lost the nerve and walked away. I didn't really want to go to the dance anyway."

"I didn't go to my prom," Aspen told him. "It just didn't seem important to me. Especially when the only guys asking just thought I was an easy target."

Steve frowned at this, but Aspen smiled, encouraging him to continue. "Bucky kept telling me I'd find the right girl but it seemed so impossible back then. It's sometimes frustrating to think that if I had been like I am now, not skinny and weak but… _this_ …they probably would have treated me much differently."

Aspen reached out and took his hand and he ran a finger over the engagement ring. "Their loss," she said.

"I realize now it doesn't matter because all this time I was waiting for you even if I didn't realize it. You see right through me to who I really am. I never feel like I need to be anything more when I'm with you. You see past the serum and straight into the man I've always been."

"Why do you think you had that dream last night?" Aspen asked him.

"I don't know." But maybe he did know. "Maybe it's just that I'm still that same person but to the world I feel like he no longer exists. I have to be someone else because that's what the world expects."

"And what do you expect?" Aspen asked. "Who do you want to be?"

"I feel like it doesn't matter who I want to be when the world needs me to be a hero." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be stressing about this. Not now."

"We've talked about this. You need time to focus on your own problems too. You need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others."

She was right. She always had clarity when it came to this. Steve always pushed his own needs aside because there was always something more important to focus on. It wasn't that he was trying to be noble. He'd been taught to put other people first. Growing up during the Great Depression he hadn't had a lot but his mother had still taught him to show compassion toward others and help them no matter what his own circumstances. She'd taught him to put others first. Was it punishment, he sometimes wondered. Punishment for not saving Bucky, for not eliminating Hydra, for all the deaths that had happened on his watch. Maybe he didn't want to allow himself any peace because the battle wasn't over yet. They hadn't put a stop to the evil in the world. But he was just one man. He couldn't single-handedly save the world. He had a team. He wasn't alone and he wasn't capable of saving everyone. He knew that even if it wasn't the truth he wanted to hear.

Maybe it all came back to expectations. The world expected him to be a hero and he tried to be one, but the world hadn't met the person before the serum. They didn't know Steve Rogers. Even back then when he'd been struggling to ask a girl to a dance, people had expected him to be someone else. Some of the boys at his school suggested he go to the gym and build some muscle – girls liked muscle. Others said he needed to start a fight with someone – girls liked a tough guy. It wasn't enough to simply be him. Except for Bucky. Bucky's acceptance was one of the reasons they'd become friends. He saw Steve for who he really was and never expected him to be anyone else. He tried to push Steve to talk to girls on occasion, but he'd never told Steve he needed to change to get their attention. And then, when Steve had woken up in the 21st century, Aspen had befriended him with no expectations of him being the same World War II hero. She hadn't expected him to change with the times or jump straight back into his mantle as Captain America. She'd let him be Steve Rogers for the first time in a long time. She'd asked about his past, about who he had been, about who he _was_ , not who the world expected him to be. Everyone else wanted him to be the hero just the same as he'd been in 1945 when he'd gone in the ice, but no one asked who he'd been before that.

"I'm afraid I'll forget how to be myself," he realized aloud. "Afraid nothing will be left and afraid it's selfish to want to be more than Captain America. It sounds ungrateful."

"It's not selfish or ungrateful," Aspen told him. "That's exactly why Tony and Clint retired. It's why Bruce is missing. We all want to have an identity and it's great having special superhero names and all but at the end of the day we're still just people. We have lives beyond our mantles and, no matter what the rest of the world thinks, we need time to be human too."

" _I hate to interrupt_ ," Tony's AI broke in, making Aspen jump, " _but you should see the news._ " The TV turned on and switched to the local news channel. Fires were burning in Los Angeles. The headline read: _Armed Robbery in LA Industrial District. Suspects Still at Large._

Aspen turned up the volume and they listened to the words of the reporter.

"Minutes ago a warehouse just off of South Central Avenue was taken over by heavily armed men, all wearing masks and considered very dangerous. Police responded to calls about gunshots. It's unclear if anyone was in the warehouse, but the armed men have responded to the police with grenades and gunfire. SWAT is on sight and more backup is on the way. We've received one photo taken of one of the men and everyone is cautioned to call the police and do not approach if he is seen. Police have not seen anyone leave the scene as of yet."

A picture came up on the screen. It was blurry and indistinct through the haze of the smoke. The man stood looking out the upper window of the building. He wore a mask hat hid his entire face as well as armor. A chicken-scratch X had been painted in white across his chest.

"Who is he?" Aspen wondered aloud.

"Someone new." There was always someone new.

Aspen sighed. "This is why I don't relax."

Steve was already on his phone looking up the fastest route to LA. "An hour on I-10. On my bike we can go faster." He memorized the route. "Suite up," he said unnecessarily. Aspen was already up and tossing her slippers across the room.

Three minutes later they were tearing out of Malibu, headed along the coast at top speed. Steve's shield was strapped in behind Aspen, and he was glad he'd brought it though maybe he'd cursed their vacation in doing so. The city drew nearer and the air grew less clear. It smelled like car exhaust and pollution although, he had to admit, not entirely unlike New York City. A layer of smog lay settled over the city like a blanket and traffic was already backed up even though it wasn't even ten o'clock. He wove in and out of the cars, and several people pointed and gawked as they caught sight of the familiar shield.

"So much for keeping a low profile," Aspen said into his ear.

Steve had to agree. He felt overexposed. Since Sokovia, the Avengers hadn't made many public appearances. A lot of their missions took them to secluded, far off places. LA was neither secluded nor far off. It was crowded and very public. As they neared their destination, a helicopter from a local news station hovered above them, buzzing distractingly. Aspen cursed them, leaning closer to him as if to disappear.

"Just what we need," she said angrily. "This isn't for show."

Steve focused on driving and tried to ignore the helicopter. Traffic stopped to let them through the closer they got as if word of their arrival had spread. So much for the element of surprise. They saw the smoke and flames several blocks ahead. Two cop cars were on fire and the police were hanging back as the SWAT and FBI teams made their way toward the building. The roar of Steve's motorcycle caught their attention. One made to stop him but then saw the A emblazoned on the front of his helmet. Steve cut the engine and hopped down, grabbing his shield.

"What's the situation?" he asked the cop.

"Uh, six men in the building. We're not sure if there are any workers in there."

"What's kept inside there?" Steve asked. It looked nondescript from the outside but he knew better than to let that lull him into a false sense of security.

"It's just a meat packing factory," the man said.

"You sure about that?" Aspen asked.

"If it's anything else, they've kept it under wraps," the cop told her. "But clearly they have something these guys want. Any idea who they are?"

"No," Steve told him. "But we plan on finding out."

"Be careful. No one has been able to get close," the cop told him, "even with their shields. The men up there've got guns that shoot straight through and an endless supply of bullets. There's a sniper in one of the upper windows. We tried getting close enough to throw in a can of gas to knock them out, but it's impossible."

"I can do it," Steve said. "I can throw pretty far," he added, hoping he didn't sound cocky. The cop seemed unperturbed.

"You'll have to talk to the higher ups," he said, nodding to the FBI agents.

"Thank you," Steve told him. He walked over to the FBI agent who seemed to be in charge. He hoped the agent would be receptive to Steve and Aspen's help. Usually the presence of an Avenger brought out awe, but only Tony's ego expected that every time. Steve understood that this man was doing his job and that Steve and Aspen were encroaching on his mission.

"Sir," Steve greeted the man. The agent gave him a shrewd look, and Steve didn't see a single glimmer of awe.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

"We're here to help," Steve said.

"Does it look like we need help?" the agent asked, his tone brisk and unfriendly.

"Yeah, actually, it does," Aspen spoke up loudly from beside Steve. She looked furious. Steve touched her hand, and she backed down, turning to him and waiting for him to speak.

"We're not suggesting you can't handle it, but it looks like you might need a little extra strength. I can throw a gas can into the window if you want to try to knock them out," he said.

"You know, we did just fine before you all appeared and started 'saving the world'," the man said, pointing a finger at Steve's chest. "What makes you think we can't do our jobs now? I don't recall things going too well over in Sokovia."

Steve felt an itch of irritation, but he pushed it back. Diplomacy was needed in a situation like this. Aspen looked ready to skin the man alive. "Look, we're not here to step on any toes. There's a situation that is getting out of control, and we can help. Your men can't get close enough, I can. Let us help before this situation worsens."

As if to aid his argument there was an explosion next to the lineup of SWAT and FBI agents. Another car caught fire and five men were flung away, landing hard on the cement. Two of them were immediately shot down by the sniper. Steve was losing his patience. "With all due respect, your men are dying. Let us help."

The man gritted his teeth and it looked as if it was taking an immense amount of effort as he said, "Fine. Go." He snatched something from the rear of the closest FBI vehicle and handed Steve a gas canister that would knock the shooters out once tossed in the building.

"Thank you, sir," Steve said.

"Jackass," Aspen muttered under her breath. Steve wished, not for the first time, that Aspen could have gone to high school with him.

"I'm going to get close enough to throw this. Cover me?"

"Always."

Steve moved forward toward the blockade of agents. Several bullets whizzed toward him, but Aspen halted them midair and they dropped to the ground, harmless. Steve swung back his right arm and then let the can fly. It soared through the air and landed straight through the window. An explosion of gas followed. It puffed out the windows in a noxious yellow cloud. Coughing could be heard and then silence.

Steve took that as his cue and bolted for the doors to the building, Aspen right behind him. He used his shield and his shoulder to rush the doors, and they burst open under his push. They swung back, hinges breaking loose on one side. "Show off," Aspen said, a glimmer of pride in her voice.

They moved in unison, scoping out the downstairs of the factory. Blood stained the cement floors, running in shallow rivulets over the uneven floor. Half a dozen men lay scattered about, gunshots decorating their bodies.

"This is brutal," Aspen said, putting a hand over her mouth. Some of the men had machine guns in hand, but none of them had been spared the returning spray of bullets. There was a doorway with long plastic strips toward the back of the room behind the counter. Steve stepped toward it and felt a cool blast from behind. He reached out a hand and brushed them aside, entering a room filled with rattling chains and long dead carcasses. It was indeed a meat packing factory, but everything looked old and smelled rank.

"This place hasn't packed meat in ages," Aspen said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"It's a front for something else," Steve suggested.

The macabre lineup of slaughtered animals made for an unpleasant maze of flies and bad smells. The air was cool but not cold as if the systems had been knocked out. The room was silent except for the soft clinking of chains and their own footsteps. "Anyone in the building still conscious?" Steve asked. The gas had penetrated the second floor of the factory but if anyone had still been on the first…

Aspen paused, canting her head to the side to concentrate. "Five unconscious…" She frowned. "One's still active. There's something familiar-" She broke off as the chains rattled behind them. "There's one down here with us," she said quietly. There was a metallic click that echoed against the cement walls.

"Get down!" Steve pulled Aspen against him and dropped to the floor as bullets shredded the dangling meat spraying bone and flesh. Steve placed a protective arm over Aspen's head. When the gunshots paused, Aspen reached out a hand and several of the animal corpses went flying. There was an "umph" as they hit the shooter. Steve leapt to his feet and made his way around the room, carefully avoiding the carnage that now covered the floor. He saw someone shifting on the floor and gripped his shield tighter. Shoving a carcass aside, the man vaulted to his feet with a roar and something metal clanged loudly on Steve's shield. His arm reverberated with the force of the blow. Another blow followed a moment later, catching Steve in the side. He stumbled backwards, not expecting the bruising force of the hit. He readied himself to strike back but suddenly Aspen was there, hurling herself at the masked man. Her arms tightened around his neck and she flung her weight to the right, dragging him down with her. Instead of falling, he grabbed her leg and flung her off of him. Aspen rolled into the fall, narrowly avoiding the edge of a metal counter. Steve bashed his shield forward into the attacker's chest. It clanked against the armor. He realized it was the same man he'd seen upstairs in the photo. He had the crudely drawn X scratched into the front of his chest plate and his mask gave him a skeletal sort of appearance. His arms were plated in metal, fists protected in a thick layer of metal as well. The heavy metal slowed him down, but that didn't stop him from fighting.

"I'm gonna kill you," the man said. Though his voice was muffled behind the mask, he sounded familiar. Steve didn't have the chance to think further as the man jumped into a fierce attack. It was all Steve could do to keep up. The man didn't seem to be enhanced or have super strength, but he was fighting with a vicious anger that felt personal. Each strike Steve sent out was countered, and when he did manage a blow, it was often reciprocated. Aspen joined in the fray a few times, using her powers to bring the man to his knees.

"Now that ain't fair," he said, glaring up at Aspen.

"Who said I play fair?" Aspen asked coldly.

"Your real target is getting away." Aspen stiffened at his words. Her eyes filled with alarm.

"Five moving upstairs." She cried out the next second as the masked man backhanded her with his metal arm. Steve rushed forward, grabbing the man by the neck and shoving him hard against the cement wall. It cracked under the force. He punched him hard but the mask protected the man's face, denting only slightly under the blow. Aspen was getting to her feet behind him. "Keep him busy," she said.

She tore toward the stairs, and Steve had to keep his concentration on his fight. Still, the moment of distraction cost him. The masked man slammed his head into Steve's, and he reeled back, hazy for a second. A blow hit his stomach before he could block. Steve struck out with his shield, knocking the man back a few paces.

"You distract easily when she's around," the man told him. "She's your weakness. You and that friend of yours. What was his name? Oh yeah. Bucky."

Steve went still. "What did you say?"

"Everyone thinks you're such a great man, but you're weak. You let yourself be weak for others."

"Who are you?"

The man just laughed. "You might not recognize me after what you did to me. All you need to know is that I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill your little girlfriend."

Steve had heard enough. With a cry, he charged the man. The momentum carried them through the plastic flaps and into the office. They hit the floor in an ungainly roll, and Steve felt metal fists hitting his side and his abdomen. He fought back, rolling until they hit the wall. Steve tucked in his knee and kicked the man. He flew straight into the wall across the room and then to the floor where he knelt, panting. Then he began to laugh again.

"It's gonna take more than that to knock me down," he said. "And by then my men will have cleared out the place."

"You're underestimating my partner," Steve said.

"Oh I know all about her Twilight Zone powers. I don't think she'll be much of a problem. Hydra isn't cowed by such powers." Gun firing erupted outside a second later. The agents were shouting, and it sounded like chaos. "Doesn't sound like she made it."

"Shut up!" Steve slammed his shield down on the man's head, but it did little. A metal hand clenched around his arm, drawing him closer and then flinging him back. Steve hit the counter behind him, the jolt to his back bringing stars before his eyes. The man was striding toward him, grabbing the front of his uniform. He was half lifted from the floor and flung through the broken front doors. He landed hard outside, and the agents nearby scattered as the masked man strode out into the open.

"Fire!" someone shouted. Steve threw his arms over his head as gunfire was opened on the man. It didn't do so much as dent his armor. He reached forward and crunched one of the guns in his fist before grabbing the agent's neck and snapping it. Steve was on his feet in a second, knocking the attacker back a few paces. There was the rumbling of an engine and he turned in time to see a yellow truck coming straight at him. He leapt out of the way as it trundled on. The masked man leapt into the open back and the gun firing resumed.

"You lose!" the man shouted back at Steve. There was still time to grab his bike and pursue the van. The FBI and SWAT were already getting into their vehicles, but Steve knew they wouldn't be able to stop the van. More people were going to die. But where was Aspen? He turned toward the building just as the lower section burst into an explosion. They'd set charges. Steve was about to tear into the building fire be damned when someone caught his arm. It was the agent who'd grudgingly let him in the building.

"There's nothing you can do," he said.

"My partner is in there," Steve said.

"There is nothing left in there." The second floor was collapsing onto the first and then men moved back as flames shot out. Steve could feel the heat of it. He ripped his arm from the man's and ran along the fiery building shouting Aspen's name. There was a faint reply and he ran toward it, pulse pounding out of control. He ignored the blustering heat of the fire. Broken beams and chunks of cement lay strewn across the ground. A shock of red hair, blacked with ash, stood out, and Steve slid to a stop beside Aspen. She was trapped under one of the beams, her legs caught, possibly broken. He didn't know. He heaved them up and Aspen crawled out. He let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm okay. I just couldn't squeeze out," she said. He pulled her into a tight hug. "We have to go after them. They got weapons. All kinds of weapons," she said. "I tried to take down the men but one of them tased me. The truck was waiting around the back and they took out all the agents."

"The man in the armor got away too." He stood, pulling Aspen to her feet. "Are you okay to ride?" he asked.

"Yeah, come on." They bolted toward his bike. No one tried to stop them as they tore out of the lot and onto the street. The van had a head start, but they followed the sound of sirens and the wake of destruction as the van and police vehicles worked their way through LA traffic.

"They're Hydra," Steve shouted back to her as they wove through traffic. "You said you thought that guy with the mask was familiar."

"I think I know who it was," Aspen said. "But I'm not sure."

"He mentioned Bucky." Steve knew that could be just about anyone in Hydra considering Bucky had been under their control for a long time. Still, the mention of his best friend had shaken him.

"He was just trying to distract you. Hydra knows how to dig in deep and hurt people," Aspen told him.

They fell silent as they caught sight of the blaring yellow van. It was pushing cars out of the way as it went. Broken glass littered the streets. The van screeched onto the interstate, picking up speed. The police cars were on its tail but the Hydra agents were well armed. One pointed a long, thin weapon out of the passenger window and aimed it at the closest cop car. A rocket exploded from the tip and hit the car with enough force to send it flying backwards onto the car behind. Steve barely managed to avoid the debris and rolling metal as he passed. The other police cars veered and continued to pursue the van. Steve was ahead of them now though. He carefully avoided the line of fire.

"What's the plan?" Aspen asked.

"I hadn't really thought that far ahead," he admitted. Normally he'd call in his team but right now their resources were limited.

"I can slow the van," Aspen said. "I can deflect bullets too. But I can't disable all the weapons or knock them all out. There's too much going on and I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Just slow them down and I'll take it from there. Can you take control of the bike if I jump onto the van?" he asked.

"Yeah, but are you sure that's a good idea?" Aspen asked.

"It's probably a very bad idea but I'm not seeing a lot of options right now," he said.

"I really hope we both actually live long enough to get married," she told him, leaning forward and kissing the corner of his mouth.

"Me too."

Aspen held onto him tightly and he heard screeching and smelled burning rubber as the tires of the truck locked up. The van swerved. Two guns started firing at them from the windows of the van, but Aspen blocked them. Steve knew she was straining her powers. She could do a lot with them, but doing a lot all at once tool its toll on her. They were close enough to the truck that he could jump onto the back, and she let go of him. He slid his arm into the strap of his shield.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Steve leapt for the truck and Aspen grabbed the handlebars of the bike, using her powers to keep it from falling over. He heard the roar of the engine as she gunned it, keeping up with the truck. Steve clung to the back door of the van, trying to decide what his next move would be. He was saved the effort of deciding as the door clicked and started to roll up. He grabbed the edge of the van and flung himself into the dark space. His feet hit the man he'd been fighting earlier square in the chest. He flew into the wall of the van, leaving a dent in the metal. Weapons lined the walls of the van, boxed up and ready to sell. Steve didn't want to know who they had planned on selling them to.

"You just don't give up, do you?" the man said, recovering himself.

"Nope." Steve swung a fist at the man's mask, this time with the hope of pulling it off. Before he could make contact, the van listed to the left with a jolt. He was thrown into the side and boxes careened toward him, slamming into his legs.

"Watch it, you idiots!" the masked man shouted. The van straightened and Steve shoved the boxes aside.

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

The man chuckled. There was something familiar about his flat brown eyes that lay sunken behind the mask.

"Rumlow." It hit Steve. It was Brock Rumlow. "I thought you were dead."

"Not quite." The van jolted again and Rumlow sent a kick straight at Steve's chest. Steve went skidding toward the opening in the van. He barely caught himself in time. Rumlow grabbed one of the guns from the box and aimed it at Steve. The bullet ricocheted off the edge of the door as Steve swung himself up onto the roof of the van. A moment later he was diving out of the way as bullets pierced through the roof of the van. He rolled and found himself sliding down the cab and front window. More bullets narrowly missed him and he had no choice but to throw himself to the side. He rolled into the fall, but he'd lost the van now, landing hard on his back on the pavement of the interstate. Aspen was still trailing the van. She looked back at him in concern, and Steve saw Rumlow take aim.

"Aspen look out!" Steve shouted. Aspen turned back to the van just as Rumlow fired. The small missile hit the front tire of the bike, and Aspen threw up a shield as she was flung backwards. She landed hard and the bike rolled aside, flaming and useless. Steve was already running toward Aspen, but she sat up, unharmed.

"He got away," she said, watching the van disappear down the interstate. The cop cars were still in pursuit and a helicopter was steadily gaining on the van. Something shot through the air and suddenly the helicopter was falling in an explosion of fire and metal just like the motorcycle.

They watched in shocked silence. "We lost," Steve said finally, echoing Rumlow's words. He felt hollow thinking about the people who had died today. He was supposed to be better than that. He was supposed to _save_ them. _That's who they expect me to be_ , he thought to himself. _I failed them_.

"We can't win them all," Aspen said softly. "We're still just flesh and bone and sometimes when the guns come out we can't stop the bad guys." They sat and watched a moment more before Aspen got to her feet. "Come on," she told him. "I don't think there's anything more we can do."

He let her lead him to the side of the interstate. One of the police cars pulled up and the cop who'd first directed Steve and Aspen nodded for them to get in. "Bad luck," he said, looking back at them in the rearview mirror. He didn't look angry just disappointed. "I guess sometimes the bad guys have to win. Otherwise we wouldn't need heroes." Somehow his words left Steve feeling even more hollow.


	36. Defeat

**33 – Defeat – June 23, 2015**

"Crossbones, they're calling him," Aspen said, putting down her phone where the news article told the tale of what had happened the day before. "Resurrected from the dead."

Steve didn't respond. His eyes were stuck on his tablet reading the death count over and over. 28 dead. 16 cops and agents. Six civilians. Six workers from the factory who had turned out to be arms dealers. The numbers seared themselves into his eyes. He jumped when Aspen reached out to touch his hand. She gently pulled the tablet from his grip and set it on the table.

"Sometimes we get knocked down," she said. "Sometimes we lose people and the bad guys get away. But we get back up. We keep fighting."

 _How could they let this happen?_ the article had asked in bold letters. _They're supposed to be heroes._ According to the news it was their fault. Those deaths were on them. He felt it, felt every one of those people weighing down on him. Even though he healed quickly, it still hurt to breathe where Rumlow had kicked and punched him. He felt like he deserved worse.

"It would have been worse if we hadn't been there. Hydra doesn't care how many people they kill. They don't value life," Aspen continued. He knew she was just trying to make him feel better, but it wasn't working.

"I was off my game."

"Well then so I was. What's the use of these powers if I can't even stop a van?"

"You were driving a motorcycle and deflecting bullets at the same time." He didn't want Aspen taking the blame for this.

"So you can defend me but not yourself?" she asked. Her green eyes were vivid, the way they got when she was angry or impassioned. "You don't get to claim fault because you're not the one who killed those people." She took his other hand, running her fingers across his palm. He relaxed under her touch, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "You put too much on your shoulders. We talked about this."

"I know. You're right. You're right…"

"Right now instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we need to figure out why Rumlow needed those weapons. He hasn't won yet. I did manage to get a tracking device on the van before we lost them, but they ditched it outside of LA." Rumlow and his men had made sure to create as much chaos as possible and the agents after them hadn't been able to get through the wreckage and traffic in enough time. After switching vehicles, they were impossible to track. "I tried to track them down but…" She shook her head. "The warehouse was a front for arms dealers. They were getting some pretty nasty things in, and Rumlow cleared them out."

"He wanted to make sure we saw him, that the world saw him," Steve said.

"I don't think he knew we were in California, but I suppose our defeat just leant more fear to his image," Aspen said. "Those men with him were trained. They didn't blink when I started using my powers on them. Maybe Rumlow's just trying to keep doing Hydra's work – creating chaos, killing innocent people, stealing high-powered weapons."

"Those weapons could be halfway around the world now in the hands of a terrorist group." Steve got up from the couch, pacing toward the door and stopping to gaze out at the scene. It had been so peaceful two days before but now he was restless. His phone rang from the table and he glanced over at it.

"It's Tony," Aspen said, worrying her lip between her front teeth.

"He won't be happy." He strode over and snatched up the phone. He opened his mouth to greet Tony, but the ex-Avenger beat him to the cue.

" _What the hell happened?_ "

Steve closed his eyes and took a deep breath before responding. "Hydra happened," he said.

"And aren't you the guy who's supposed to _take down_ Hydra?" Tony asked. "You're all over the news. People are questioning if the Avengers are up to the job. You lead the team now. You can't go in alone and then not even get the guy."

"There wasn't time to call in the team, and I wasn't alone. We just…we couldn't slow them down." He didn't want to defend himself, but he was annoyed with Tony's anger.

"I'm handling the press now. We might be able to come out of this okay."

"The press? Tony, I don't care what the press has to say about this. Is that what you're really worried about?" He glanced at Aspen who furrowed her brow.

"If the press turns the public against the Avengers you're going to have more to worry about than Hydra mercenaries. People are already talking, bringing up questions. They want accountability."

"I take full accountability for what happened." Aspen gave Steve a sharp look.

Tony sighed. "I know you're already taking this out on yourself. Don't. I just need you to know what the people are saying. You might not care what they think, but if the people pull their support from us then it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder to go after the bad guys."

"I know. I'm going to do everything I can to find Rumlow and bring him to justice," Steve told him. If only he knew where to start. He hadn't even known he was still alive until yesterday.

"You know the guy?" Tony asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I guess he's called Crossbones now, but he used to be a SHIELD agent. He was Hydra all along though. I thought he'd died in DC during the attack, but I guess not."

"Well just lay low until you get back to New York," Tony advised. "I can't see you or Aspen relaxing now, but try to enjoy the rest of your vacation. There's nothing more you can do right now. Natasha's already trying to track down this guy."

"I think we're just going to head back to New York," Steve said, looking at Aspen. She nodded.

"That makes it look like you're running," Tony told him. "Stay another day. Visit the hospital where some of the victims of the incident are. Shake the chief of police's hand."

"I thought you said to lay low."

"That too. Maybe you can repair a little damage though."

"I don't think shaking hands is going to repair anything."

"Public image," Tony told him. "Public image."

After Steve hung up, he turned to find Aspen sitting on the couch, knees pulled up to her chin. He was alarmed to see that she had tears in her eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"I hadn't even thought of the victims' families, of the people who are in the hospital right now because we didn't stop Rumlow in time. I've grown so used to casualties that I've forgotten to remember that they're more than just numbers." Her shoulders were shaking now, and Steve pulled her closer to him. She buried her head in his chest. "Was he mad?"

"It's hard to tell with Tony sometimes. I think he's just concerned the situation is going to spiral out of control. The press got a lot of coverage on it and it didn't paint us in a good light. You know Tony; he cares about what the press has to say. But he did have a point. If the public opinion of us is low then we might run into some trouble."

Aspen pulled away and looked at him. "You think people might turn against us?" she asked. Her voice was small and her cheeks pale, and it made Steve want to protect her from the world.

"There will always be people who don't think we have a right to be out there fighting crime, but I think most people are still thankful for New York. A lot of people will always see us as heroes." He winced as he spoke. It sounded pretentious, and he knew he couldn't always rely on the assumption that people were going to idolize the Avengers. "Tony thought we should visit the hospital where some of the people who were injured are, maybe talk to some of the families of the victims. Offer our condolences."

Aspen seemed to shrink away from him as he spoke. "They'll hate us," she said.

"They won't hate us…" But he wasn't sure. How would he feel if someone he cared about was killed and no one had stopped it from happening? He took a deep breath. "You don't have to come," he said softly. "But I feel like I need to at least try to atone for what happened."

Aspen was silent for a long moment. "I'll come," she said finally. "I don't want to make you go alone."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." She'd stopped crying and held her shoulders a little higher. "This just sucks."

That made him smile a little. "Yeah," he said, "it does."

Since his motorcycle had been wrecked, they borrowed one of Tony's cars. They were all extremely expensive looking, and Steve was seriously considering calling Uber instead of driving one of them. Finally he settled on the most normal looking car which probably still cost over eighty grand. He'd read in the article online that the patients were being treated at the Good Samaritan Hospital. Aspen was quiet on the way in, staring out her window as the city flew past. The subdued mood continued all the way to the hospital and when they got out of the car, Aspen stared up at the hospital with a fearful expression on her face. Steve took her hand.

"Do you want to wait in the car?" he asked. She shook her head, getting out of the car. They checked in at the front desk. The secretary there did a double take when she looked up at Steve. He explained that they were there to visit the victims of the day before to see how they were doing. In a flustered motion, the woman handed them the guest log and told them the room numbers. Steve could see her frantically texting on her phone as they walked away. There were three people still in the hospital. The other four had been checked out this morning. Steve knocked on the first door and stepped in after the woman within called out for him to enter. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties and lit up the second she caught sight of Aspen and Steve.

"You're those heroes," she said. "The Avengers, right?"

"We're Avengers," Steve said. "I'm not sure heroes after what happened yesterday. I'm sorry you had to get hurt."

"It just proves you're human," she said. There wasn't a note of hostility in her voice, and Steve felt Aspen relax. She didn't let go of his hand though. "Please, sit down," the woman offered. Her leg was in a cast, rested on a little sling to keep it elevated.

Steve pulled two chairs up to the bed. "We just wanted to make sure you were all right," he said. "We didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"I know a lot of people are saying you need to be held accountable for everything that's happened, but you do your best. It's not like someone like me could defend the entire city of New York. It takes a special kind. It's too bad Mr. Stark retired from the Avengers. He was my favorite – no offense!" she hurried to apologize.

"It's okay," Steve told her. "We miss him too."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries and then moved on to the next room. Aspen hadn't said a word the entire time, but he knew she was feeling nervous. She could be a spitfire one moment, defending him angrily to strangers, and then be shy the next, keeping her thoughts to herself.

The next room held a teenage girl who was surrounded by a gaggle friends. The second they saw Steve, they all started giggling and whispering. He nearly bolted out the door, but Aspen tightened her grip on his hand. "Oh no," she said. "You're not getting off that easily."

"Hi," Steve said. "We're, er, here to see how you're doing after yesterday."

The girl in the hospital bed had her arm in a sling and her face had a few scratches, but she was smiling and looking speechless. Steve felt his cheeks heating at the attention but forced himself to stay calm.

"I can't believe you're actually here!" the girl said. Her friends twittered. One reached for her phone, but the screen went black the next moment. The girl slapped it against her hand, but it wouldn't turn back on. Steve saw a satisfied smirk flit across Aspen's face before it was replaced by a calm smile.

"Well, glad you're mending," Steve said awkwardly. He turned to leave.

"Wait!" the girl with the cast said. "Will you sign my cast?"

Aspen covered her mouth to hide a laugh, and Steve turned back to the girl. "Sure." She handed him a sharpie and he quickly signed his name. "There you go." The friends rushed over to look at the signature, and Steve took the chance to drag Aspen out of the room. She was nearly doubled over in laughter now.

"I am so glad you convinced me to come with you," she said.

"Mmhmm. I'm sure." They walked to the last room. This one was located in the ICU, and Aspen's laughter died. The patient's door was slightly ajar here and, as Steve tapped on it, it opened wider. There was a man sitting in a wheel chair by the window gazing out at the city. He didn't turn to look at them when they entered. There didn't seem to be much physically wrong with him outside of a few bruises on his arms. Then he turned to face them, and Aspen stifled a gasp. His face and neck were covered in red, puckered burn marks. His hands, too, were burnt.

"You." In that one word, Steve knew this man was not happy with him. Aspen shrunk back, sensing the hostility.

"We just came to see if-"

"If I was okay?" the man asked. He laughed but there was no humor in the sound. "Do I look okay?" His eyes were dead, and Steve knew in that moment.

"You lost someone."

"That obvious?" He turned away, and Steve wasn't sure if he was set on ignoring them or not until he started to speak again. "I had just picked up my family from the city pool. My two daughters were with me and my wife."

Steve's heart clenched. Part of him wanted to turn from the room so he wouldn't have to hear the rest of the story. He didn't move though. This was part of his duty.

"We didn't see the helicopter until it was too late. It fell from the sky and part of it hit the car. In LA traffic, you can't go anywhere. There wasn't time anyway. It was on fire and then suddenly so was the car. I couldn't get them out. My wife went first and then my daughters. I walked away. I should have died. I _would_ have died. I would have given my life over three times so that they could have walked away."

"I-" Steve started, wanting to say _something_ even if nothing would sound right.

"You really think anything you have to say is going to make it better?" the man asked, turning around again to glare at them. "Why are you here? Why do you get to walk away without a damn scratch?"

Steve dropped his gaze. The man was right. Being here when the man's family was dead…that wasn't helping. "I'm sorry," he said. "We'll leave."

"One of these days the world is going to wake up and realize that all you and you kind do is leave a wake of destruction and death. One day you will have to pay for that!" the man shouted after them as they left the room. Steve shut the door and then leaned against the wall for a moment, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. It's not like he hadn't faced anger like that before or that raw grief that came after loss. It still hurt though.

"Steve?" He calmed his breath and opened his eyes.

"You were right earlier," he said. "Sometimes I forget that people are dying. We fight and sometimes we win and then we go home. What's left though?"

"Let's get out of here," Aspen said. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea."

Steve let her lead him toward the doors. It was in his nature to want to help people, but he knew he couldn't help that man and he couldn't help the man's family. Maybe their deaths weren't directly his fault, but the man needed someone to blame, so they were the easy scapegoats. But Steve felt the guilt whether it should have been his or not. Someone had to carry it, so why not him?

He wasn't expecting the flashing cameras and microphones awaiting them outside the doors to the hospital. They were besieged without warning, people pressing in on them from all sides.

"Captain America is it true that you used to work with the suspect known as Crossbones?"

"Captain Rogers, how do you explain the failure that occurred yesterday? Are you pursing this mercenary?"

"Miss Tolvar, don't you have special abilities that are supposed to prevent things like this from happening?"

"Who will stand accountable for the deaths if the villain is not brought to justice?"

"Captain America!"

"Who is to blame?"

"What do you have to say?"

"Is that an engagement ring? Miss Tolvar! Over here!"

The flashing cameras were blinding and the questions were thrown at them like a hurricane. Aspen had stopped short and was frozen in place, eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

"Who is going to pay for the damage to the city?"

"What about the families of those lost? Where's the justice for them?"

Then another voice rose up above the reporters. "You think you're above the law, that you can just waltz in and it doesn't matter if there is blood on your hands because you're _heroes_." This came from a bystander. Steve cut his eyes to where the girl stood holding a sign that read _Avengers: Heroes or Villains?_ Several people had joined her holding similar signs. _Hold the Avengers Accountable. Justice for the Dead. Who Will Pay?_

"We're going home," Steve told Aspen softly. He hooked an arm around her waist and they started toward the parking lot, Steve pushing reporters out of the way, sheltering Aspen as they went. She was shaking, and he felt his anger building up. He shoved one reporter too hard, and the man stumbled. Something hit Tony's car, but Steve didn't stop to see what it was before helping Aspen in and getting in behind the wheel. He forced himself not to tear out of the lot. "We're going home," he repeated, dialing up Tony's pilot and directing him to pick them up as soon as possible. Aspen sat shaking and didn't say a word.

…

The words on the signs outside the hospital were still seared into Aspen's eyes an hour later. She lay in bed shivering even though Steve had opened the sliding glass doors to let in a little of the warm, afternoon breeze. She wanted to laugh at the idea of berating Steve that morning for blaming himself because this afternoon had put enough guilt on her shoulders to make her never want to get out of that bed.

Tony's pilot had promised to be there that evening so they could get back into New York in the very early hours of the morning. Steve was somewhere downstairs probably feeling even guiltier than Aspen. It wasn't as if Aspen had been under the illusion that everyone loved her and her team. She knew there had been mixed opinions of the team since the very start. But she'd never faced the kind of hatred she had today. That man had lost his family, and she'd never begrudge him for the hatred he'd flung at Aspen and Steve but she'd never forget the look in his eyes. Haunted. It was the same look Wanda had had in her eyes for months after her twin had died in Sokovia. It was the look she'd seen in countless faces over the years, but she'd never stood and faced someone's anger like that before. The job was to save people, but she was just now realizing that another part of it was taking the anger and the hatred the families of the people they _couldn't_ save. They had no one else to blame – villains would be villains, but the Avengers were supposed to _stop_ those villains before they hurt anyone.

She heard Steve enter the room and felt him sit on the edge of the bed. When she rolled over to look at him, he was bent over, head in his hands. She sat up and rubbed a hand over his back. "Today was hard," she said. "When I saw all those cameras and those signs… I guess sometimes we get this false sense of security in our safe little facility in New York. We go out, save the day, get our pictures taken from afar, and go home. Today we weren't protected by those walls. Today we were out there trying to be considerate people but in the public's eyes we're still those superheroes that never really stick around to see what destruction we leave behind. I just felt so exposed but we don't really get the luxury of privacy."

"I never liked being in the public eye with the press and all. I was never comfortable with that kind of attention," Steve said. "But I also don't want people to think we're too good to talk with them or offer condolences."

"We're different," Aspen said, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his back. "People don't like things they don't fully understand."

"It's never been about them liking us, but…if too many people think we're doing more bad than good…" He left the thought off, but Aspen knew exactly what he meant. If people started to think they were making things worse then they'd stand up against them and people like Rumlow would run around without opposition. It wasn't about people liking them but they couldn't keep avenging if the people they were trying to save turned against them.


	37. Accountability

**34 – Accountability – June 24, 2015**

"How is this making things better?" Tony said, slapping down a newspaper in front of Steve. The headlines read: **Captain America and Miss America Accountable?** _Who will claim blame for the Los Angeles Tragedy?_

"You said to visit the hospital."

"I said to make things better. _This_ is not better." Tony paced in front of Steve, letting off nervous energy. "You should hear what they're saying about you staying in my mansion."

"I'm sorry but how is _that_ my fault? I didn't ask for any of this to happen," Steve snapped. "You think I don't feel awful?" Aspen turned her head away from the conversation. She was still pale, wrapped up in a sweater though it was a warm day.

"Of course you feel awful. I do too. I feel like maybe if I had been there… The press is having a heyday over this though. I don't think I can fix this one," Tony said.

"The press? The PRESS?" Aspen stood now, cheeks red with fury. "I swear if you say the word 'press' one more god-damned time I'm going to punch you," she shouted at Tony. Tony took a step back, his face registering shock. Steve blinked in surprise but made no attempt to calm her. He knew a lost cause when he saw one. "People died and you're worried about our reputation? About what the press is saying about us? The press doesn't paint anyone in a good light!"

"I have met a few decent reporters," Tony said, clearing his throat. "Sometimes you just need to get them to warm up to you."

"Oh, I see. You sleep with the attractive ones and they write a nice story about you. Is that how it goes?" she accused.

"That is not fair and not the point I was trying to make," Tony said sharply.

"Why are you even here, Tony? You're not on the team anymore. This isn't your business."

"Aspen-" Steve started, surprised by her hostility toward Tony.

"He's trying to say we don't work without him," Aspen said. "He's trying to make you feel like you can't lead the Avengers. Like we're a failure as a team."

"I never said that!" Tony objected.

"You implied it. You're worried about image and how the public views the Avengers, but you're really worried about how they are going to view you too. You're the one who retired, who left us. Maybe they think our team can't function without Iron Man."

"What has gotten into you?" Tony asked, furrowing his brow. He looked genuinely confused.

"People were throwing stuff at us, Tony," she said. She seemed to deflate standing there. Tony took a hesitant step forward as if expecting her to strike out at him again but she seemed to have used up all her energy and anger. "I don't care what the press says, but the people…they had signs – protest signs. You said having a good public image matters, but what if we messed up one too many times? What if people hate us? I don't think I can deal with people I don't even know hating me."

"Nobody could ever hate you," Tony said. He drew Aspen into a hug, and though she stood stiffly she let him hug her. "You're our fiery little mascot. You keep us all together."

"I think there might have been a compliment wrapped up somewhere in there." She pulled away. "I'm sorry," she added. "I shouldn't have yelled at you or said those things."

"Did it feel good?" he asked, cocking his head to the side to survey her.

"Yeah, it did." She cracked a smile and Tony returned it.

"It's been proven that yelling at me is good for morale. It's why Capsicle and I shout at each other so much."

"Right." Steve was glad Aspen had calmed down. He picked up the newspaper and read the article. "It's not so bad," he said. "They're just looking for someone to pin the blame on."

"In some sick way, you're glad they're blaming you, aren't you?" Tony asked. "It alleviates that guilty conscience of yours."

"People died. That's on me."

Aspen didn't try to argue, and Steve knew she felt just as guilty as him. The last few days hadn't been easy, and Steve felt a headache pulsing in the base of his head. "Things are changing, aren't they?" he asked Tony.

Tony sighed, sitting down across from Steve. "Yeah," he said. "Not everyone is happy with our – _your_ – little team of superheroes running around. The novelty has worn off. People are starting to question things. We should have seen it coming. We've gotten away with a lot over the years."

"But we've saved lives. We're not just running wild," Steve said.

"I know that better than anyone. They even know that but the threats are getting bigger, the death tolls higher. People are scared that the Avengers are making it worse somehow."

"The day that's true is the day we're not doing our jobs right."

"Well let's hope that day never comes."

Aspen curled up on the couch again, and Tony took a step toward the door. "It's going to blow over," he said. "Just keep your eyes open for this Crossbones and next time go in knowing what to expect." Her turned to look at Steve. "By the way, how is the wedding planning going? The tabloids got a picture of the ring, so that's trending."

Steve pushed back his annoyance at the paparazzi and their constant need to publish personal things about people. "We haven't really had much time to think about it," he said, glancing over at Aspen. "Our vacation got cut short and after what happened, well, it doesn't seem like it should be a top priority."

"Why don't you leave the planning to Pepper and me? We can take care of everything."

"Because then we'd have five hundred guests and a gold fountain instead of a chocolate one."

"Have you at least set a date?" Tony asked, sounding disparaging.

"Every time we talk about it something happens and we push it aside. It's not like we can ask the world to just stand still." Putting himself first wasn't important right now though he couldn't deny that the longer they put it off, the more impossible it felt.

"Steve, you have got to take one day to yourself. Pick a date and we will be ready for it. Your team can handle whatever crisis is thrown their way. You deserve your day. Both of you. Don't let this set you back anymore than it already has."

Steve nodded. "Thanks. Let me walk you out." They left Aspen there, Tony casting a worried glance back at her.

"Is she okay?" he asked Steve when they were out of earshot.

"I'm not sure," Steve told him. "When the press bombarded us outside the hospital she just kind of shut down. She's not used to that kind of attention and it didn't help that it wasn't good attention."

"I know she gets stressed around crowds of people."

"Yeah." Steve hadn't realized how much until he'd seen the fear on her face yesterday.

"Just don't think you can't be happy because of what happened. It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry if I came down hard on you. It's just…well, to be honest this world doesn't always deserve you. You're one of the good ones."

"That sounded an awful lot like a compliment."

"Yeah, well, don't let it inflate your head. Your helmet won't fit." He opened the door to his Audi. "Just set a date," he said, growing serious again. "You both deserve it, and right now I think she really needs something else to think about."

He got into the car and started the engine. "I'm gonna fight Wilson for rights to best man," he said before driving away.

…

Aspen watched Tony drive away from the window feeling guilty for the way she'd spoken to him. She didn't know what had come over her. A combination of stress and guilt and annoyance, she supposed. Tony seemed like the perfect verbal punching bag at the time. Phoenix had come out of her room and was now in her lap. She stroked her absent-mindedly, seeking comfort in the low purr that emanated from the cat's body. Steve reentered the room looking weary. "I was awful to him," Aspen said quietly.

Steve glanced at her, and she could see that familiar worry, the little crease between his eyebrows. "Sometimes Tony brings out the worst in us until we realize he can sometimes be right. Anyway, I think he needs someone to bring him down a few notches sometimes. You're the only person I know besides Pepper who can get away with talking to him like that. Maybe Rhodey."

"He still sometimes treats me like a child and after how I behaved today, maybe I am still one."

"You've been under a lot of stress. That can bring out the worst in anyone." He sat down next to her, and Phoenix let out a little meow in greeting. He stroked the cat's chin. "I know we feel like it's selfish to focus on us at a time like this, but we should talk about the wedding."

"I wonder what the press would have to say about that," she said flatly.

"Hey." He took her hand. "This is our moment. It has nothing to do with them."

She finally turned to look at him. "Would you want to get married on the 4th of July?" she asked. "I don't want to steal away your birthday, but…well it seems right."

"I can't really think of a better way to spend my birthday," he said, lighting up.

That was two weeks away. Aspen felt suddenly nervous. She hadn't put too much thought into being married. She'd been living with Steve for a long time now. They knew each other so well that Aspen wasn't sure there was much more to learn. Well, maybe some things… She felt her cheeks heat as she thought of what would follow the wedding. She was suddenly very aware of his closeness.

"I love you," he said as if misinterpreting her embarrassment for hesitation. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you even if aliens fall out of the sky during the ceremony."

"That would be inconvenient." She gave him a smile, and his eyes warmed at the sight of it. She felt happier than she had since her birthday. "I love you too," she told him, leaning forward to kiss him. It was soft and lingering, and she wished they had more time for that sort of thing.

"Captain Rogers, Miss Tolvar I was wondering- Oh." Vision was standing there having just materialized through the wall. "So sorry."

Aspen started laughing. "It's okay, Vision," Steve said as the android turned to leave. "What was it you were wondering?"

"It's just, well I was wondering if you'd heard from Wanda. I haven't seen her today, and I'm not sure where she could be."

"She's not in her room?" Aspen asked, furrowing her brow.

"No, I checked. Mr. Wilson and Ms. Romanoff haven't seen her either."

"Can you sense her?" Steve asked Aspen. She concentrated and then shook her head.

"No. She's not on the property. Maybe she just went out for something? Are any of the cars gone?"

"No. I checked that myself, but all are accounted for. I wouldn't think it odd but we did have a training session scheduled for an hour ago and she wasn't here when you returned. She's not answering her phone. In fact, I found it sitting in her room."

Aspen's phone rang at that moment, cutting into their panic. Aspen pulled it out of her pocket. "It's an unknown number," she said.

"Put it on speaker," Steve suggested. Aspen nodded, sliding her finger to answer and setting it for speakerphone. She placed it on the table.

"Hello?"

There was static for a moment and then, "Hello child. I told you we would meet again."

"Who is this?"

"You don't remember?" He clicked his tongue. "I offered you a position in my court but you so ungraciously declined. You could have been the centerpiece of my collection."

Aspen froze. She was suddenly back in a palace with flags bearing a white lion with a star above its head and a waxing crescent moon to its left. The palace was cold and unforgiving. A girl with jet-black hair and eyes stood before a throne and on it–

"Prince Baran," she said. Steve shot her a surprised look. "I don't know how you got this number, but I haven't changed my mind. I have no desire to work for you or be part of your… _collection_."

Prince Baran was the ruler of Madripoor, the criminal hub in southern Asia where she, Steve, and Sam had once gone in search of the Zephyr Codes – commands that had the potential to turn Bucky back into the Winter Soldier. They hadn't found the codes but instead a girl with abilities similar to Aspen's. She was naturally gifted though, born with her powers. Specials, she called people like them. She could control minds and alter memories, create illusions and bring a person's fears to life. After taking control of Steve and Sam's minds and bringing them and Aspen to the palace, Aspen had learned of the Prince's job offer. If she worked for him, she could do whatever she liked with her powers, no morals, no laws. She'd said no, of course, and, after a test of strength and will between her and Zi, the gifted girl, Prince Baran had let Steve, Sam, and Aspen walk free. Aspen hadn't expected to ever hear from him again though he had told them they would meet in the future. Zi could apparently see into the future and had shared this vision with the prince. In fact, she had seen her very meeting with Aspen before it had happened.

"Though that still disappoints me, I found someone else to take your place," the prince said. "Zi said there would be three of you, but it turns out the other one died rather recently. Pity."

"What are you talking about?" Aspen had a sinking feeling in her gut.

"Well, if I couldn't have you, I thought I might take your little protégé. She's quite strong and rebellious like you. I am confident we can break her though. She's already fragile without her twin."

"Wanda," Aspen said, fear gripping her. "You have Wanda."

"Yes, my dear, and if you ever want to see her again, I suggest you get the first flight to Madripoor."


	38. The Collection

**35 – The Collection – June 24, 2015**

"So let me get this straight, you want to go back to Madripoor by yourself?" Sam asked, giving Aspen a 'you've got to be kidding me' look.

"Zi can control minds. She can turn all of you against each other," Aspen explained. "You know that better than anyone," she directed at Sam.

They were sitting at their meeting table, all present except for Rhodey who was off doing some mission for the Air Force and, of course, Wanda. Natasha was quiet, fingertips pressed together against her chin. Steve was also quiet though Aspen had expected him to jump in and tell her she couldn't go alone. He didn't though.

"What about Vision?" San suggested, looking over at the android.

"It's possible that the Mind Stone can be manipulated," Aspen said, glancing at the yellow gem at the center of Vision's head. "This is personal. The prince wanted me, and since he couldn't have me he took Wanda. This is something I need to do by myself."

"I don't like it," Sam said. "I mean, I know you saved our asses back there last time, but who knows what that guy's cooked up since then. He might have a whole army of enhanced people."

"Specials. That's what Zi called them."

"Specials, enhanced, super-human, inhuman. Whatever they're called, they keep popping up," Sam said. "I know you dealt with that group of them earlier this year. Would any of them be able to help?"

"I don't want to drag them into this. It'd be too dangerous. If the prince knew they existed…"

"He'd want to collect them too," Sam finished her thought.

"I'm going alone. It's final," Aspen said. "I can fight off Zi's powers. You're all my weaknesses and I know that would be exploited. This just goes beyond criminals and Hydra thugs."

"I thought we'd talked about this going off on your own," a voice came from the doorway. Aspen whirled around. Clint stood leaning against the doorframe geared up in his Hawkeye guise.

"Clint! What are you doing here?" She wanted to run over and hug him, but she stayed where she was.

"I called him," Steve said. Aspen turned to look at him. "I knew you'd want to go off on your own. I also knew there was a risk if any of us went, but if we had someone who didn't need to be close to help protect you."

"And I feel responsible for Wanda too. I'm the one who brought her into this. I'm not just going to sit on my thumbs while some psycho in Madripoor has her."

"Fine." Aspen knew there was no arguing and the idea of working with Clint again made her happy. "I missed you," she said.

He winked. "I know."

"I'll keep you updated," Aspen said, turning to the others. "I promise if I need help I'll call. And we," she said, walking over to where Steve was sitting, "are going to plan our wedding the second I get back." She leaned down and kissed him.

"Be safe," he told her.

"We'll be back with Wanda," she promised.

…

This time they flew in a quinjet, Clint piloting. Aspen knew she should have felt tired, but she was wide-awake. She hoped it wasn't already too late. Not that she thought the prince would have harmed Wanda. But Zi could have played with her mind, could have tested Wanda. Aspen knew how unpleasant that could be.

"So," Clint broke the silence. "Have you set a date yet?"

Aspen pulled herself away from her worry. She'd be no use to Wanda exhausted and stressed. "4th of July." Clint chuckled and she grimaced. "Too weird?"

"No, not at all. Fitting. Where are you going to have it?"

"We hadn't really discussed that yet. Somewhere private."

"Yeah, good plan. You've been all over the tabloids," Clint told her.

"What?" she spluttered. She knew someone had taken a picture of her engagement ring, but it's not like she'd confirmed that's what it was. _It's the tabloids_ , she had to remind herself. _They infer whatever they like_.

"Umm, yeah, I thought you knew. It's no biggie. Do you know how many times Tony is in the tabloids a week?"

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Relax. They don't know the real you. Anyway, I was going to say if you needed somewhere to hold the ceremony you're always welcome to do it at my place. We've got a lot of acreage."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, of course," he grinned at her, and she could see a sort of pride in his eyes that made her miss him all over again.

"Yeah, I would love that. I would love that so much," she said.

"Great." He looked pleased. "Laura has all kinds of ideas for decorating."

"Lila and Cooper can be the flower girl and ring bearer if they wanted," Aspen suggested.

"They'd love that. They're always talking about you, you know. You and Nat are their idols. Well, Lila's. Cooper can't seem to shut up about Iron Man and Captain America."

Aspen smiled. "Do they have the action figures?"

"Tony bought them a whole set for Christmas this year. It didn't have a Hawkeye character though."

"What? For shame." It still made Aspen uncomfortable thinking about merchandise being made with her face on it. Fortunately there seemed to be a lack of Miss America paraphernalia. Ugh, she still hated that name.

"It didn't have you either, but Lila made her own."

"That's so sweet."

"Yeah. She used a Polly Pocket with red hair and green eyes and gave her a cape with stars on it. So who all are you inviting to the wedding?" Clint asked. Aspen's tension was easing already with the normal conversation. Clint always knew how to put her at ease. Now that he was absent from the team, she realized just how much he'd done to keep them all sane and calm. She'd never shouted at Tony like she had yesterday when Clint was around. She and Steve both worried too much and tended to wallow in it rather than try to push past it. When she was around Clint she felt like it was okay to laugh and everything didn't seem so dire.

"Well, the entire team, of course. My mom and aunt and grandma." She thought back to all the people she'd met since she'd joined SHIELD. "I'd invite Thor, but I don't really know how to get in contact with him," she said, frowning.

"He probably doesn't have a phone. Homing pigeon?" he asked. "Asgardian scroll?"

Aspen could picture Thor finding out he hadn't been invited to the wedding. _Why didn't you send a raven?_ he'd ask as if that should have been obvious.

"Or Bruce," she said. "I don't know how to contact him either. His phone is disconnected."

"Maybe he'll just show up like he did in New York when we needed him."

"Maybe. So that makes…" She paused to count. Tony, Pepper, Clint, Laura, Cooper and Lila and little Nathaniel, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, Sam, Rhodey, her mom and aunt and grandma, Maria Hill and Lucy and her boyfriend Noah, Jane, if she could be reached. Fury? She had no idea where he was. Peggy – her thoughts went to the one person who should have been there but could hardly remember who Aspen was anymore. They'd visit her right after, Aspen promised. She'd been bedridden lately, and it broke Aspen and Steve's hearts to see her that way. Bucky should be there. God, he should be there. Another impossibility. Aspen was surprised at how many people she'd thought of. Growing up she'd had her aunt alone, but now she had people who cared about her, people she trusted and loved. "About eighteen?"

"That we can do."

"I know Tony wants to throw as much money at this wedding as possible, but I just want something simple. I want homemade decorations and a home cooked meal and maybe a few pictures taken on friends' phones. I want a dress that I find at a secondhand store. I just want to be around the people I care about. I could get married in some alleyway in New York and it would still be the happiest day of my life."

"Well, I think we can do a little better than that, but that's good. You deserve it. Both of you. You work way too hard."

Aspen laughed. "That I know. There's one more thing. Since I don't have my dad to walk me down the aisle, I was wondering if you would do the honor."

Clint looked at her, eyes widening. "You mean that?"

"Of course."

His eyes glistened a little now. "It would be my absolute honor," he said. He pulled her into an awkward one-armed hug.

"We'll have the wedding in the morning so you don't have eighteen guests trying to sleep in your house," Aspen suggested.

"And the honeymoon?" Clint said it nonchalantly, but Aspen blushed a deep red.

"Oh, uh, I hadn't thought that far," she said awkwardly. Clint chuckled.

"I didn't want details. I was just wondering where you wanted to go for it. I'd suggest somewhere without news coverage or Wi-Fi or phone signals."

"So like some deserted island in the middle of the Pacific?"

"Doesn't Tony own an island somewhere?"

"Probably. It would be nice to get away. I mean _really_ get away," Aspen said thoughtfully. "Although we might both feel guilty the entire time if we're not constantly aware of what's going on in the world."

"Even superheroes have to take a vacation from time to time. Relax. Your team can handle things without you for a few days. Tony and I can be on call. The world will not end."

"No, I suppose it won't."

"We're getting close," Clint said a moment later, gazing out the front of the quinjet. It was evening now, and darkness closed in around them. "I'm gonna go into stealth mode." He flipped a few switches just as Aspen saw city lights glowing up ahead. For a second it was only a few, twinkling through the haze of ghostly clouds. Then they were through the clouds and Madripoor glittered like a toxic diamond before their eyes.

"Hasn't changed much," Clint commented. He might not have been with Aspen the last time she had been there, but he'd been to Madripoor before as a SHIELD agent.

"I never wanted to come back," Aspen said.

"So tell me more about this prince. He's the actual ruler of Madripoor?" Clint asked. "He sounds pretentious."

"Prince Baran. He seems to have this obsession with Specials, as he calls them. Zi was his right hand until she failed to overpower me. She had mental abilities very similar to Wanda only she didn't seem to be able to create or manipulate energy or anything like that. The prince had a 'collection' of people with gifts. They worked for him and he protected them. I don't know what they do exactly. If they're assassins or agents or prostitutes or if they just live there. My visit to the palace was brief, but the prince seemed sure we'd meet again. Zi had seen the future."

"And she saw you?"

"Yeah."

"Not at all creepy." He started the descent. Aspen had had no clue where to land the quinjet, but Clint knew of a place where it would be safe. Aspen realized that she was very lucky he was with her.

"No kidding. I know a lot of stuff about SHIELD and its agents including me got leaked during the Hydra takeover, but I had hoped it'd go away after awhile."

"A lot of that stuff was encrypted, you know," Clint said. "SHIELD didn't just leave information lying around. Maybe your file was on there, but anything sensitive would have been encrypted."

"People can break encryptions."

"Certain people, yes, but not everyone."

The city lights twinkled as they came closer, and Clint headed the jet toward what looked like an abandoned warehouse on the docks. He landed on top of one of the flat buildings and cut the engine. "We should be safe here. No one really comes to this part of the city unless they've got nowhere better to go."

Aspen pulled up a map of Madripoor on her phone. "Here's the palace," she said, pointing to a location further inland. Zi could sense me before, so I'm sure if she doesn't already know I'm here, she will soon. I'm going to block any thoughts about you so hopefully you can stay under the radar. Keep your distance. If I need help, I'll signal you. He's not going to let me just walk out this time. Either I stay or Wanda stays or, if he gets his way, we both stay. He's not going to get his way though. I don't know how many Specials he has or what all they can do, but I'm prepared to expect anything."

"You're strong," Clint said. "Stronger than last time you were here, even."

They exited the jet, and Clint used one of his arrows to create a rope for them to slide to the ground. As they landed, Aspen threw up a shield over both of them. She didn't know if it would keep Zi from sensing her, but it was worth a try. They headed into the city, Aspen wrinkling her nose at the smell that emanated from the docks. There were a few vagrants wandering around or huddling in dark corners, but no one paid Aspen or Clint any attention. Clint had a jacket with a hood that covered his quiver and bow. As they walked out onto the sidewalk of a busy street, Aspen realized no one was going to pay them the least bit of attention. She'd forgotten how strange the city was. The rich poured onto its streets, dressed up in diamonds bigger than Aspen's fist and gowns that might have come out of the Victorian era or the future. A lot of the people had colorful hair and bold tattoos and all of them either had a fancy car or the money to buy one. It was like stepping into a twisted Utopia. Madripoor had always been otherworldly. The poor came to find a new, exotic life and ended up in the gutters while the rich lived in opulence. The buildings on either side of the towered up into the smog-filled sky, higher than any skyscraper in New York. Lights and signs blared, and Aspen felt a sensory overload. She muted her senses until she could no longer hear every high-pitched laugh, honking horn, and blaring song played from a car driving by several blocks away.

"Just the same," Clint muttered to himself as a drunken group spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of them. The club they had just left was pumping out music loud enough to shatter someone's eardrums. "This is one of those times I'm glad I'm deaf," Clint said.

"Lucky you."

After several busy blocks, Aspen could see the palace rearing up above the city. It was industrial and modern, somehow cold even against the bright lights of the city. She tried to push back the nerves that wove their way into her mind at the sight of it. Someone jostled her, and Clint put a protective arm around her, ushering her away from what looked like a street fight.

"There's a hotel across the way from the palace," he said. "I'm going to be on the roof. I've got my scope for my bow, and I'll be able to see what's going on inside. It's even got x-ray vision so I can see through the walls."

"Just the walls?" Aspen lifted a brow.

"Yeah, just the walls," Clint assured her.

"I'll keep my comms on. I don't know if Zi's powers will interfere, but you should be able to hear everything as long as they keep working. If they stop working and I need your help, I'll signal you somehow."

They stopped across the street from the palace gates. "Be careful," Clint told her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You too." They parted. Clint headed toward the hotel where he started scaling the building to get to the roof. The elaborate windowsills made this easy, and soon he was at the very top of the five-story building. Most of the buildings in the city were well over a hundred floors, but this hotel boasted underground rooms.

Aspen hurried across the street, manipulating the light – or rather the darkness – to hide her. The gates were guarded, and she knew there were little motion detectors running along the black, iron-rod bars. Not an issue. She stilled the air around the bars of one section and then cut off the motion sensors close by. She'd never tried this before, but instead of climbing the gate, she willed the bars to part. They did. The black metal bent and curved, opening up just enough for her to slip through before they closed up again. She reactivated the motion sensors and it was as if nothing had happened.

The dark grounds were filled with gardens and topiaries and fountains. She even saw a couple of peacocks strolling along. There was a hedge maze that curved around in circles and shapes. She edged along it, widening her senses. She could hear the guards talking along the walls of the palace and could smell the rich scent of roses from the garden a few yards away. She could see perfectly well in the dark, her eyes adapting. She reached out her senses and marked a mental map of everyone in the building and outside. There were ten guards on duty outside at random intervals along the gate and walls of the castle. Part of her realized that stealth was going to eventually be impossible. She might as well walk through the front doors. He knew she was coming. Another part of her clung to the hope that she could sneak in and steal Wanda back before anyone was aware.

There was a window open four stories up. Aspen scanned the room for people but it was empty. It seemed too easy. The other bodies within the castle were all downstairs. Maybe there was some sort of party going on. She heard the strains of music and laughing and conversation. There were a few other people on some of the other floors. She tried to sense where Wanda was, but it was too difficult to differentiate the energies inside. She knew there were other people with abilities. Zi was probably in there somewhere. She'd have to find Wanda the old fashioned way.

Aspen focused on the window and took a running start, using a boost of energy to shoot herself up to the window. It was still disconcerting being able to do that but, she had to admit, it made breaking and entering much easier. "I'm in," she said into the comm as she set foot inside the room, pausing to take in her surroundings. The room was jam-packed with furniture, each piece more opulent than the last. It appeared to be both a bedroom and living quarters. She realized the Specials would probably each have their own rooms.

" _What do you see?_ " Clint asked on the comm.

"Just a room. Nothing special." She didn't bother looking around further but made for the door across the room. It opened out onto a hallway dimly lit with elaborate sconces in the shape of a pouncing lion.

The hallway was silent, and Aspen knew this was too easy. She had no idea what the prince's collection could do. Even still she kept her senses alert and her presence shielded. She took comfort in Clint's presence even if he wasn't right there with her.

 _Wanda where are you?_

She still couldn't sense the girl anywhere but she knew this was where she would be. She froze as the air shifted around her. She turned and suddenly she was no longer in the cold corridor. Her breath caught in her lungs as the scene unfolded before her. She stood in what appeared to be a throne room. The floors had been cleared of furniture and people were crowded into it. They all looked at Aspen with curious eyes and she looked back, trying to hide her surprise. Everyone was dressed in finery as if she had just walked into the middle of a ball. The loud music had stopped the second she'd entered the room. The sound of clapping had her turning on her heels.

Prince Baran stood up from his throne and took a step toward Aspen, his deep red robes billowed out as he lifted his hands up in the air. "Welcome!" he said, his accented voice booming around the room. He was just as Aspen remembered, black hair and braided beard with matching black eyes. They were shrewd, calculating. He was heavyset, but Aspen would never underestimate his strength. Despite a little extra weight, he had muscles. There was something in those eyes though… A hunger. She'd seen it before when people knew about her abilities. It was hunger for power, hunger for strength, hunger to transcend normal human constrictions and become something more. Suddenly it was very clear to her why he kept these Specials around. He wanted to be one. If he was mad enough perhaps he was trying to devise a way to take their powers. Perhaps having them under his control made him feel powerful. Either way, it was about power. She knew more than enough about the world and the people within it – their motives, their greed, their hate. She knew what it was to be a pawn, to be looked as like a tool. She knew what it felt like to have someone want to control her and to be controlled against her will.

It wasn't something she wanted to repeat.

"Impressive, isn't she?" the prince said, and Aspen turned to see the girl he was looking at. The girl looked away when Aspen met her eyes. "She can open portals and take you anywhere you want to go."

"Where's Wanda?" Aspen asked, turning her attention back to the prince.

"Safe," he said. He snapped his fingers and a girl came to his side as if drawn magnetically. Aspen did a double take. Her skin was blue. _Blue_. It was unlike anything Aspen had ever seen. "Like her?" the prince asked, seeing Aspen's reaction.

" _Like who?_ " Clint asked on the comm. " _How did you get down there? You were just upstairs. Is that girl_ blue _?!_ "

"She's imported," the prince continued, unaware of the one-sided conversation in Aspen's ear. "She's rare, but my collection is vast and varied." Aspen felt sickened. "The people are calling them Mutants. There were several uprisings back in the late 60s. She's safe here. You could be too."

"I don't need safety. I already have somewhere safe. You pulled me away from it. And Wanda."

"Safety. It's an illusion, a slight of hand." He drew a white rose from the inside of his robe. "There's an innocence in that naivety, but–" he waved his hand over the rose and it turned to ashes, leaking through his fingers and onto the floor, "–illusions pass. I might be far removed here, but I've seen the news. I've seen them turn against you."

He was watching Aspen intently. "I'm not ready to throw in the towel and give up," she told him. "Sum it up to a bad day, but I'm not going to hide here. Things aren't that bad."

"But it'll get worse. They'll all turn against you eventually. It's in their nature. They want someone to blame. You're more powerful than them, so they blame you when things go wrong. People are inherently selfish. They think someone else should do everything for them and when things don't go their way, they pace the fault on anyone other than themselves."

"I'm not sure you should be criticizing people for being selfish. You hoard all these powerful people here."

"I keep them safe."

"You _collect_ them. Safety is just an illusion after all."

Prince Baran threw back his head and laughed. "I knew I liked you for a reason. You're spirited and you don't take other people's bullshit. You see _through_ the illusions. Except your own."

"I just came here for Wanda," Aspen said, trying to stay calm. "She isn't yours to take. She's just a girl, and her home is with me and with my team." She could almost feel Clint's tension on the other side of the comm. "I'll ask you one more time – where is she?"

"Are you going to use your powers to intimidate me?" The prince almost looked giddy.

"I rather think I'm outmatched," Aspen said, glancing around the room. Everyone was still watching her, but they seemed more curious than hostile. She looked for Zi but couldn't find her. "Are they all Special?" Aspen asked, turning back to the prince.

"Not all of them," he said. "Your kind – either naturally made or made to be Special – are still rare."

"What makes me so special?" Aspen asked. "I was artificially made. The serum made me what I am."

"Ah, but what you can _do_. The potential is endless. Unfortunately you've only unlocked a small portion of what you can do."

Aspen was growing tired of this conversation, but she didn't think it wise to test the prince's Specials while they were all gathered together in the room. "I've always struggled to expand my abilities, but I've grown much more powerful in the last year."

"Would you like me to let you into a little secret?" the prince asked, leaning closer. "Your brain is not at its full potential. The Superhero Serum made anything possible, but you've resisted all these years. You need to give in. You think you have full capabilities, but you're only at thirty, maybe forty percent of your brain's full potential."

Aspen narrowed her eyes. She couldn't tell if he was serious or not. He was no scientist, so how could he possibly know this?

"I see you doubt me. I would too. Your parents were brilliant scientists, but even they did not fully understand the full extent of what they achieved. You're still human. To be human is to only use a small portion of your brain. But to become something more, something else – then you must use more. You must unlock abilities you've never even dreamed of. The possibilities really are endless. You could travel back in time, change your physical appearance, create and take life with the blink of an eye, predict the future. All that is waiting for you. There's just one more step you need to take."

"And what's that?" she asked him, already knowing she wouldn't like the answer.

"You need to give up being human. Being human is your only obstacle." He looked so serious in that moment, but the idea was preposterous.

Aspen laughed humorlessly. "I can't just stop being human. That's what I am."

"It's what you were born as but you can adapt. That's the beauty of your gift. You can adapt to anything. You can _transcend_." He opened his hand again and, where there had once been the ashes of the rose, a butterfly fluttered up. Aspen watched as it flew up toward the chandelier above them, drawn to the light and the reflective crystals. "Someone like you wasn't meant for this life," the prince continued. "You were meant for so much more, and I can help you achieve that. Wouldn't you like to be able to stop the villains before they hurt people? Wouldn't you like to make a real difference in your fight against Hydra? Would you deny the chance to save more people?"

"The price you're asking is too high," Aspen said.

"Your life or theirs. What does it really mean to be a hero?" He watched her keenly.

Aspen was silent. The prince smiled as if he had already won. "All you need to do is _let go_."


	39. Adapt or Die

**Author's Note:** Ugh, that took me forever to finish. Sometimes life literally consumes me, smothers me with work, holds me back and prevents me from doing what I really want to do which is write. Anyway, here is a long chapter for you! Also, I'm skipping ahead to July 4th after this chapter. Just, you know, because I think I've put these poor characters through enough lately.

* * *

 **36 – Adapt or Die – June 24, 2015**

Aspen had let go of so many things in her life. She'd let go of her past, she'd let go of her mistakes, she'd let go of her childhood, of her father, of a normal life. She'd let go of herself too. One thing she refused to let go of was her humanity. She'd seen what it was to act without conscience, without worry of hurting others. What the prince offered her, what the _serum_ offered her, perhaps, was not something she had ever wanted.

"So I haven't used the serum to its capacity," she said. "I don't want to. I don't need the serum to save people. I'm not going to lose myself completely because then I'd lose the will to save anyone at all. Do you think you could really control me if I did 'transcend'?"

"Perhaps not, but it would be something to behold. Even you must agree with that."

"I'm tired of people telling me who I need to be. I'm not made of clay ready to be molded by whoever wants to change me. My name is Aspen Tolvar. I'm an Avenger. I'm a twenty six year old _human being_ who wants nothing you are offering. I just want Wanda back."

"Then you will get the chance to win her back," he held up a hand as if expecting Aspen's objection that Wanda was not a prize. "Please, humor me. Let me see your powers." His eyes glimmered with a hungry curiosity.

"You've already seen them."

"But not against my collection." He spread his arms wide, and Aspen glanced around the room. All the people within suddenly seemed like threats, and she tensed.

"Where's Zi?" None of the faces surrounding her were familiar.

"With your young protégé. She'll be here soon. She saw you coming, you know."

"You already said that last time."

"She saw _both_ of you," the prince added. "And a third, but he didn't make it, did he?"

Aspen's thoughts went to Pietro. She could still see his body spread out on the sidewalk amid the destruction of Sokovia, bullet holes decorating his body. "We're not invincible."

"Not yet, not alone, but _together_. If you embrace who you truly are. The age of humans is over. It's time for Inhumans to take their place in this world."

"Aren't you afraid they'll overpower you then?" Aspen asked. "You don't have powers as far as I can tell besides a few parlor magic tricks."

The prince turned away from her, glancing around the room at the people. They looked back, their faces carefully placid. "There are ways…"

"My mom destroyed her research. You'd have to start from scratch if you wanted the Superhero Serum," Aspen told him. She wondered how many of the Specials around her had been given their powers through a serum – either voluntarily or involuntarily. The idea that someone could be born with powers still astounded her, made her realize how blind she'd been about what kind of world she'd been born into.

"There are other ways."

"Experimentation? Somehow I don't think your _Specials_ would appreciate that."

The prince's face hardened and for a second Aspen was seeing another side of him. She wasn't sure she wanted to see that side. "No, of course not. I would never harm them. Perhaps you have not heard of Terrigen." Aspen shook her head. "It's a substance that brings out the true potential in Inhumans. It _creates_ them or rather recreates them into their true self. Some was released into your own country not too long ago. It created Inhumans."

"So it's a serum?"

"Oh, no. It's something much more than that. It speaks to the ancient, otherworldly blood that lives inside Inhumans. It wakes them up."

Aspen was trying to wrap her mind around what he was telling her. "So it's not of this world?" she asked. "It's alien?"

"That is my understanding from what I've studied of it."

"And it brings out the Inhuman traits if the people have this ancient blood – this _alien_ blood?" The prince nodded. "And for people who don't have it?"

"I do not know the answer to that."

"But you want to expose yourself to it?" Aspen asked. "Because you want powers like us." That greedy glimmer was back. "Even though you don't know what it will do to you?"

"I guess we'll find out together," he said. He motioned to one of his guards who stood by the doors. "Is it ready?" he asked. The guard gave a nod.

"Is what ready?" Aspen asked.

The guard handed the prince a small black device with a red button that ominously protruded from the top. "The Terrigen bomb, of course. We're going to see this city's true potential tonight. We're going to see what we can become."

"You can't just expose the city to the Terrigen," Aspen said. She looked around the room but was met with blank expressions. "That will cause chaos. They're your people. Aren't you supposed to protect them?"

"To be honest, the city has…declined in the past few years. More and more people come looking for a life with no boundaries, no restrictions. They're consumed with petty things and don't understand the true potential of life. I can show them though. I can help them _ascend_. I can help them _transform_."

"You'll destroy the city if you do that."

"I'm glad you care about my city so much because you're going to stop me." He held up the little device. "Let's increase the stakes. If you can get past my Specials and pry this device from my hands, then I won't set it off. Everyone can go on living in monotony, not really knowing what else is out there. You get to go home with your friend. But if you fail, then I press this and the city learns what it is to become something more."

"You're insane. This is totally insane." She turned to look at some of the Specials. They wouldn't meet her eyes. "None of you are going to do anything about this?" The room was silent. "If any of you are anything like me then you were forced to become something more, something _different_. No one should be forced to do that."

Silence. Perhaps they'd learned submission the hard way. Perhaps they agreed with the prince's insane conquest. "Fine. Then I'll stop you alone."

" _Do you need me to move in?_ " Clint asked her.

"No," she said softly. She didn't want him to get hurt. If the Terrigen was let loose on the city…what would happen to him? "You need to get clear," she said softly as the prince motioned for his Specials to approach. "If I can't stop this-"

" _Nice_ _try, but I'm not leaving you, Pen._ "

"Stubborn."

" _Just be careful._ " As six enhanced men and women circled her, Aspen wondered how powerful she really was.

"We still need to find Wanda. I might need your help on that." Since he wasn't going to leave… If she knew where Wanda was maybe she could cut this short and they could get away from this nightmarish city. "Be careful. Zi might be with her."

" _She doesn't scare me,_ " was Clint's reply.

Aspen turned her full attention on the room before her and the Specials lining up to test their powers against hers. She raised her eyes to the prince who sat down on his throne, remote in his hand. "Shall we begin?" he asked. "Are you ready to become something more?"

"No," Aspen told him. "I'm ready to be just who I was meant to be." She closed her eyes and breathed in every detail around her. She sensed rather than saw the first attack. The man on her left was reaching out a hand and the air around them grew suddenly frigid. Aspen threw up a shield as a wall of ice surged up around her, trapping her within. She could feel the cold pressing in around her, but her shields held. She pulled on the air and sent a blast of heat and energy at the ice. It shattered. The next attack came quickly, and Aspen realized she needed to be on her feet, anticipating the next move, the next _power_ before it even came. This one came in the form of shadows. A girl with eyes the shade of night was suddenly morphing into shadows. They spread out around her, empty, dark eyes fixed on Aspen. They came at her, and she sent a surge of energy upwards. The chandeliers above them sent out a blinding light, and the girl screamed as her shadows exploded.

The prince was watching with rapt attention, and Aspen felt like she was in a fighting ring. She wondered if the guards were taking bets along the side of the room. The next attack caught her off guard. A girl opened her mouth and a high-pitched sound had Aspen clutching her ears. She cut off the sound, temporarily deafening herself. She could hear Clint swearing on the other end of her comm before the comm short-circuited with a static buzz in her ear. She really was on her own now. She sent up a shield and cut off the sound completely though the shield vibrated against the attack. Aspen struck out mentally and the girl went down like a stone. A shard of ice came slicing through the air and Aspen flipped backwards to avoid it. Something sharp slashed at her from behind, narrowly missing her cheek. A redheaded girl had claws and sharp teeth and Aspen thought she saw leopard spots peeking out from under the sleeves of her shirt. She rolled out of the way as the leopard girl struck again. It was becoming increasingly difficult to predict what was coming next, and Aspen found herself stumbling as the air around her lost gravity. She forced her feet to stay down though the lack of gravity unbalanced her. She wobbled as she dodged another strike from the clawed girl and sharp metal dragged across her bicep. She gritted her teeth and cut off the pain. Blood blistered in the air and froze as time slowed. She was frozen in time but a boy moved toward her with precise steps. She couldn't throw up a shield fast enough as he threw a punch at her. She closed her eyes and concentrated every bit of her powers on protecting the patch of skin where he was aiming his fist. He cried out in pain a moment later, time speeding back up to normal. She hadn't felt his punch. She'd never changed the density of her skin before but she'd made her cheek solid as a brick wall before he'd made contact.

"Very good! You're already starting to adapt!" the prince called from across the room.

Aspen stopped at this and claws swiped at her back, drawing blood. _Adapt or die_ , something inside told her. She didn't want to die. But she also didn't want to adapt. Not in the way the prince wanted her to. What did she have that none of these Specials did besides her inhuman abilities? A smile touched Aspen's lips. Oh she would adapt all right. She spun around and struck out at the nearest Special. It was the girl with claws. She reeled back at the attack, and Aspen spun into a kick, sending the ice-boy back, clutching his stomach. She continued the onslaught, dodging and punching and kicking, all her hours of training with Steve and Natasha and Clint paying off. The Specials weren't trained to fight as humans; they were trained to fight with their powers. Aspen allowed herself a shield, but she fought with her fists and feet. She looked up at the prince when six unconscious bodies littered the floor around her. A bit of blood dripped from a cut on her lip, and she wiped it away.

The prince clapped his hands and the guards came forward to drag the unconscious bodies away. Eight more Specials took their place. Aspen raised her fists. "I could do this all day," she said, smiling at her words, at _Steve's_ words from when he'd been a scruffy fighter back in the 40s. Peggy had told her stories of his persistence that he'd always been too humble to tell. He never gave up, and neither would she. She had a wedding to get to, and right now these people were standing in the way.

The next attack was quicker, less calculated and more vicious. She realized that the Specials were a family and she had taken down six of their own kind. She wasn't one of them even if she had abilities too. The prince hadn't mentioned the consequences for those who were not able to overcome Aspen. She flung up her shields as powers she'd never imagined barraged her from all sides. Everything blurred and she could no longer pick out individual powers. One boy could disappear and reappear. Another seemed to control the mass of solid objects, Aspen discovered as the floor melted beneath her feet. A girl with unnaturally red eyes could scorch anything she looked at. Aspen was slowing with her counterattacks, her shield shuddering as her concentration slipped. She'd shut off so much pain she wasn't really sure how hurt she was. She turned and found herself facing a dozen of the same person. He'd cloned himself, she realized. They all attacked at once. Aspen knew before they hit that they could all hurt her. She gathered her power and screamed, " _ENOUGH_!" letting it burst from her like a wave. The clones flew backwards and disappeared, leaving the original behind on the floor. The others were down too. Aspen's hands trembled. She wasn't doing enough. _She_ wasn't enough. Her heart pounded as the prince waved the device around.

There were still Specials lined up along the wall, and Aspen wondered just how many the prince had collected. Were these people willing to be here or had they been lost and alone until the prince had scooped them up and promised them better things? Was she one to judge after having accepted Joseph Danners's job offer back in her days of smuggling? She'd been lost too and he'd offered her somewhere with the illusion of safety. Perhaps the prince did have a power though not an inhuman one. He'd reeled these people in under some illusion. Manipulation was his ability and a powerful one at that.

She was tired, but she didn't waver as the next onslaught began. All she knew was flashes of light and slashes of darkness and pain and screaming until something inside of her erupted and time slowed. She blinked as the room fell into focus. There were drops of blood dangling in the air, coming from the mouth of one Special. Time halted altogether, and Aspen's breath stilled as she took in the scene around her. It was one of total chaos. To see these people attacking her with no visible conscience… She ducked under an outstretched fist that burned with energy. One girl was a whirl of color, barely corporeal. There was so much power in this room, Aspen realized. The prince was keeping them like China dolls, but if he were to ever release them on the world… They were weapons because they'd been treated as such. They probably knew nothing beyond the shores of this repugnant city. They knew the corruption and destitution and they clung to the illusions the prince had created. She wanted no part of this.

She left them behind and walked across the room to where the prince held the remote. Her hand was reached forward, fingertips brushing the device, when her mind split into pain. Her vision went instantly black, and she could feel her knees hitting the hard, stone floor beneath her. Pain wracked her body. Something was attacking her mind. It had broken through her defenses. She felt time speed up and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had started.

Aspen was on her knees before the throne. He was smiling over her shoulder, and Aspen forced herself to turn. Zi had entered the room. Behind her two guards shoved Clint and Wanda into the room. Clint had a bloody nose and was still trying to struggle while Wanda gazed ahead with little emotion in her eyes. There were circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in days. The Specials Aspen had left in the center of the room were in varying states of injury and confusion.

"You've grown stronger," Zi said, flipping her black hair over her shoulder and quickly braiding it.

"I've been practicing." It was agony to get to her feet, but Aspen forced herself up. She'd be dead before she willingly kneeled before the prince.

"So have I. I adapted. If you want to survive, you will adapt too." She was circling Aspen now like a predatory animal eyeing its next prey. Aspen turned with her, not taking her eyes off of the girl.

"Are you the final test?" Aspen asked. None of the other Specials came forward to fight her. All the pain in her body was coming back to her now and she tried to push it aside. Something reached out and stopped her, cutting off that ability so that all the pain came rushing in at once. Aspen nearly fell to her knees again. She could feel the raw wounds on her back and arms and the cuts here and there.

"If you wanted, you could heal," Zi said. "You have the power to heal yourself."

"Maybe I just like to bleed."

"I don't plan on making you bleed, but this will hurt." Zi shut her eyes and the pain began again. Aspen was defenseless against it. It was like scratching her fingernails against a door she couldn't quite shut. Zi pressed in on her, invading her mind with a searing, concentrated power. _You'll have to do better_ , Zi's voice said in her head. Aspen just wanted the pain to stop. She couldn't cut it off and she couldn't bring herself to keep fighting. She wanted it to end. Just when she thought she had taken all she could, the pain stopped. She was on her hands and knees on the cold floor, and Clint was shouting her name. Wanda was still expressionless, and Aspen hardly got the chance to wonder what had been done to her when Zi attacked her mind again. Aspen tried to think of Steve, tried to think of anything good, tried to keep fighting, but she couldn't drag her thoughts away from the agony in her head.

"If you don't adapt, you'll die," Zi said simply. "And so will your friends."

"I…I don't think…don't think your…prince wants me…dead," Aspen choked out. Her nose was bleeding freely now, dripping scarlet onto the white, polished floor.

"If you refuse to evolve, then I have no choice," the prince said from behind her. He stood, and his shadow fell over her. He hooked his foot under her stomach and flipped her over. She nearly screamed as pain ripped through her back. She tried to get up, but she couldn't move. Her limbs felt heavy, and she realized Zi was manipulating her mind. _Get out!_ she tried to scream at Zi, but the girl didn't so much as blink. How had she gotten so strong?

 _You need to give up being human. Being human is your only obstacle_ , the prince had said. Perhaps Zi had given up her humanity. There was nothing in her cold eyes that looked human. "You don't understand what you're missing," she said. "There's so much more, and you've only scratched the surface."

"Everyone keeps telling me I need to be more," Aspen said, gritting out the words. "I'm done listening. You know nothing of what I need to be."

"Then you will fail." Zi struck again, and Aspen's vision went black. Then something else filled her vision. She saw herself standing in the hall, hands drenched in blood up to her elbows. The collection lay around her like broken dolls. Aspen's eyes were pure black though something danced within the depths. Whatever she was, it wasn't human. Her features looked sharper and, as Aspen watched, she transformed, skin blending in with the white floors until she had nearly vanished. She stalked forward and Aspen saw the throne up ahead. There was a body behind it, fingers still clamped around the remote. The other version of her reached down and took the remote, holding it in her bloody hands before taking a seat on the throne. She splayed her hands out on the arms of the stone, leaving red handprints. She transformed again, sheaths of gold falling around her, red hair twisting up under a crown. Her eyes were unchanged, however, just as lifeless as before. Aspen stepped closer and realized that they weren't lifeless. They _were_ life. They were _everything_ because at her full potential, she _saw_ and _knew_ everything. She wasn't Aspen anymore.

The non-Aspen reached out a finger and pressed the button on the remote. Screams issued from outside thirty seconds later. "You'll see the truth," the non-Aspen said only her lips didn't move. "You'll understand why you need to transform."

When Aspen opened her eyes again she was back in the hall and Clint was screaming her name. She tried to move, however feebly, to let him know she was still alive, but the fight had gone out of her. If she became that _monster_ they wanted her to transform into then she might as well be dead. "I…I _won't_ …" She couldn't get the words out, but Zi understood.

"Such a shame," she said. "If you had reached your full potential then you would have ceased to be human. You would have become something better. Imagine all the knowledge you could hold. You could control the entire universe."

"I…don't want…to control…the universe…" Aspen choked out. She coughed up blood. "Why…can't…you… _get_ …that?"

Zi leaned down close to her, eyes the same dark, lifeless pool of knowledge that Aspen had seen reflected in her own. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, Aspen Tolvar. You represent everything that is failed in this universe."

Aspen was going to die. If he didn't do something right now, she was going to die. Clint was restrained, and not even he could break their grip. Wanda was clearly under some control, perhaps Zi's. Wanda was strong though. Aspen knew just how strong after training with her daily for months. She reached out with the last semblance of power, the last bit of energy she had, and released Wanda from whatever prison her mind lay in. Zi didn't notice. She was too intent on her prey.

"Pity," she told Aspen. "You would have looked beautiful on your wedding day."

It was those words that drove Aspen over the edge, drove her to _fight_ again. She let out a growl and bashed her head forward with all her might. Zi's nose cracked, and she fell backwards. Blood was rushing freely from her nose now. It was that moment of distraction that made all the difference. Zi lashed out but before she could hurt Aspen again, a red energy stretched out between them, cutting Zi off from Aspen. Aspen looked over and saw that Wanda was herself again. She looked furious though. She rolled her hands and Zi went flying across the room with a scream. She hit the wall and fell to the floor. She tried to get up, but Wanda lashed out again, and Zi's head hit the floor. Aspen was afraid she was dead for a moment – she knew Wanda wouldn't forgive herself for killing her even if Zi was an adversary – but Zi was still breathing. She didn't get up again though. Wanda turned on the guards holding Clint and they grasped their necks, their oxygen suddenly cut off. They slumped to the floor after a moment. Aspen's breath was labored now, and she couldn't seem to shove enough air in her lungs. _You need to heal,_ a voice told her. She concentrated on her wounds and imagined them healing up, skin stitching back together, bruises fading. Her breathing came more easily now. Hands pulled her gently up, and she was in Clint's arms.

"You're covered in blood," he said, checking her over for wounds.

"It's okay," she told him tiredly. "I healed myself."

"She almost killed you. Pen, I thought you…I thought she was going to kill you." There was desperation and fear in his eyes, and Aspen reached up to touch his cheek.

"I'm alive," she told him. "She didn't kill me." He nodded, pulling her closer to him in a gentle hug, engulfing her in his arms. "And don't you dare blame yourself," Aspen added as she felt Clint take a deep breath to speak. He deflated.

The sound of clapping interrupted them. Aspen pulled away from Clint though he wouldn't release her. He crouched protectively next to her. The prince stood in front of his throne. "Well done," he said. The remote was still in his hand. "But you cheated."

Clint helped Aspen to her feet. Wanda joined them, hands glowing with red. She trapped the prince's hands at his sides, forcing him to release the remote. It clattered to the floor, and Wanda sent it flying into her hand. She handed it to Aspen. The prince began to laugh.

"You think you've won," he said. "But I already pressed it. While you were bringing Zi down. I pressed the button. You cheated!" He looked half-crazed, and Aspen wondered, not for the first time, if he _was_ insane.

Then the screaming started outside. "It's begun!" the prince shouted. "The evolution of Madripoor! Let my people be transformed!" He ran from the room, his guards rushing after him.

"We need to get out of here," Clint said. "Shit is about to hit the fan."

Aspen took Wanda's hand, weaving her fingers through the girl's. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Did they hurt you?"

"I'm all right," Wanda said. "Thank you for freeing me. She was strong."

"Not as strong as you," Aspen said. She pulled Wanda into a hug, and the girl wrapped her arms around Aspen. "I'm sorry this happened. I'm sorry I didn't protect you like I should have."

"This isn't your fault," Wanda told her.

"Yes it is. He wanted me," Aspen said.

"He's insane. Are _you_ all right?" Wanda pulled back and studied Aspen.

"I'm better now that I'm not under attack from eighty Inhumans," Aspen said. "Let's get out of here."

They followed Clint out of the throne room and down the palace halls. Guards were rushing to and fro, but no one bothered to stop them. There was an explosion outside that rocked the palace.

"Is this what he really wanted?" Clint asked. The air was cold outside when they pushed out the front doors of the palace. The city outside was in utter chaos. Several cars were on fire and people ran around the streets, disoriented and panicked. There was a mist settling over the city, and Aspen watched as a woman was engulfed in it. She froze and a rocky substance raced across her skin until she was frozen solid in the stone. It was like lava rock and consumed her entirely, forming a thick, misshapen ball in the center of the sidewalk.

"What _is_ that?" Wanda asked, fear in her voice.

"It's the Terrigen," Aspen said. "The bomb set it free. It's transforming people." Those who were not turned to stone simply coughed as the mist surrounded them. It didn't seem to harm them, but Aspen wasn't sure what was happening to the people who had turned to stone. "The Terrigen reacts to people with Inhuman blood in them."

"Will it affect us?" Wanda asked.

"I don't know. I don't know if it can since we already have powers. We were made this way artificially. Inhumans are different."

"Well I don't fancy taking any chances," Clint said. "I say we avoid the mist. I don't feel like discovering any crazy alien bloodlines tonight."

"Good pla-" Aspen cut off as an unearthly screech went up from somewhere on the castle grounds. Some of the mist had worked its way into the hedge maze. Something was shifting in there.

"I think I can shield us from the mist," Wanda said.

"I can help." Aspen concentrated, forcing past her exhaustion and made a weak shield around the three of them. Wanda strengthened it until they were surrounded by a faintly red bubble. They exchanged a look and then started toward the city, trying to ignore the massive shuffling noises coming from the maze behind them. They reached the street and heard a cracking sound from the sidewalk across the way. The stone cocoon was breaking open. Aspen stopped short, waiting for whatever was inside to come out. The cocoon shattered and the woman rose up, black ashes falling from her body like a phoenix. Her skin was glowing, and Aspen saw a thin layer of scales crawling up her arms and face. She looked down at her hands and screamed.

"Can we help her?" Wanda asked.

"I don't know what we can do for her," Aspen said. She wanted to help, but all over downtown there were Inhuman cocoons. "There are too many and right now they're scared and we don't know what they can do." It hurt her to say that. If she had transformed herself, would she have been able to help them? She couldn't think about that now. Besides, she'd had that vision. She'd seen what she would become. She hadn't felt anything then. Hadn't had the compassion these people now needed.

"Let's go." Clint put an arm around both of them and they hurried away from the scaly woman. They were halfway down the block when an explosion rocked the street. The hedge maze was burning now. They stopped sort as something gigantic rose up from the ashes. "Holy shit."

"Is that what I think it is?" Aspen asked, eyes wide in horror as creature rose from the ruins of the hedge maze.

"That is a dragon," Clint clarified. It was some sort of long, reptilian creature. "I guess they call it _In_ human for a reason," he said. "I think we need to get out of here. _Now_."

" _MY PEOPLE!_ "a loud, rough voice issued from the dragon-creature. " _WHY DO YOU RUN IN FEAR? CAN'T YOU SEE THE FUTURE IN THESE NEW INHUMANS? CAN'T YOU SEE THE WORLD ANEW? WE ARE TRANSFORMED!_ "

"Is that…?" Clint left the question off.

"Oh. My. God." There was no mistaking the dragon's voice though it was deeper now. It was the prince. He had transformed. "I didn't realize Inhumans could…shape shift like that."

"This is insane. I mean, I've seen insane, but this is _beyond_ insane."

"Let's just get out of here. Let the prince deal with his people." He'd realize soon enough that they were terrified of him.

They ran down a side street and kept going, avoiding the throngs of panicked people as best they could. The shield kept them from being run over. They could hear the prince's deep voice calling out to his people even halfway across the city.

"I feel bad just leaving them," Wanda said, glancing back.

"I know," Aspen told her. "We're not enough to help them right now. I don't know how."

"The prince caused all this," Clint said. "This is his mess to fix if he actually cares about his people. This is something we'd call SHIELD in to help with, but there's no one to call. The team…I don't know what we could do. We can't make these people human again. We could try to help calm them, but by the time we got the team here it would be too late."

"There has to be something we can do." Wanda looked distraught, and Aspen knew just how she felt. This was more than the three of them could handle though. "I helped calm people in Sokovia," Wanda said. "I can help the people here." She'd stopped walking. Clint and Aspen stood side by side on the other side of their protective bubble. They exchanged a glance. "You think we can't do anything, but we can't do _nothing_ ," Wanda insisted.

Clint let out a great sigh. "We evacuate people to a safe location. Can you do something about the mist?" he asked Wanda.

"I might be able to force it somewhere else, but I don't think I can get rid of it completely."

"Push it away from the people. You need a better vantage point." He looked up at the building beside them. "Can you get up there?" he asked. Wanda nodded.

"What will you do?"

"We'll do crowd control on the ground. You concentrate on getting that mist away from the people then try to calm them and nudge them away from the chaos. Get them inside, I guess. I'm not sure anywhere in this godforsaken city constitutes safety."

"I'll help calm people," Aspen said.

"You sure you're up to it?" Clint asked, casting her a concerned look.

"No, but I'll do it anyway," Aspen said. She nodded at Wanda. "Good call," she said. "You're right. We need to do what we can. We can't just leave them."

"We'll go home after they're safe," Wanda promised before launching upward, red energy lifting her off the ground and to the top of the building. Clint took Aspen's hand and they headed toward the crowds. Their protective bubble was faint now that Wanda's energy was concentrated elsewhere. Aspen reached out and felt for the fear and tension weaving through the peoples' minds. She soothed it, tamping down the fear and replacing it with calm. The people around her slowed, their panic subsiding. Clint ran ahead and began to direct them. They began walking in a somewhat orderly crowd toward the nearest buildings. Some people started helping others and soon an ambulance came roaring down the street, lights flashing. Aspen could see the Terrigen mist moving smoothly toward the palace. She didn't know how many people it had reached, but there were more Inhumans out there than there had been twenty minutes before.

Wanda landed behind her. "The mist is contained," she said. "It's starting to fade. The people downtown have taken shelter."

"That's good. Now we just-" The sound of helicopters cut her off. Spotlights illuminated the streets. Aspen saw people coming down ropes from the bottom of the helicopters. They landed on the buildings and streets. She didn't understand where they'd come from. Were they Madripoorian police? Did such a thing exist? Their vests read ATCU, but Aspen couldn't say what it stood for.

"We've gotta go," Clint said, grabbing Wanda and Aspen's hands. " _Now_."

"Who are they?" Aspen asked as more of the black-clad people dropped into the city.

"They work for our government," Clint said. "Barney's CIA contacts told him about them. Advanced Threat Containment Unit. The president founded it to keep Inhumans under control after they started becoming more of a presence."

"Why am I just now hearing about this?"

"Didn't think it was important at the time. I'd never actually seen them in action. They must have had some lead involving Prince Baran to have come so far. They've probably been watching him for awhile. No one purchases something like Terrigen without someone noticing."

"What do they do to Inhumans?" Aspen asked.

"Contain them?"

"Not all Inhumans are a threat."

"They don't see it that way." Aspen stopped, and Clint pulled on her hand.

"We can't just leave them to be taken by these people," she said. "Who knows what they'll do to them. What if they're just like Doctor Rinehart? What if they hurt them?"

"We're outnumbered and, if we interfere, the Avengers look bad."

"Oh, don't you start!" Aspen said, exasperated. "It's public image this and public image that."

"And would you trust a group that goes up against a government entity designed to keep people safe?" Clint asks. "It sucks, yeah, I get that, but you have to understand that more is at risk here. We go in there and get caught by these people and we don't help anyone. These new Inhumans are a threat to themselves right now because they have no idea what's going on."

"The _government_ isn't going to help them," Aspen said bitterly. "They'll imprison them. These people will never walk free again."

"They'll help them," Clint told her, but he didn't sound convinced.

"You know they won't."

"Aspen, please." Clint's eyes pleaded with her. Aspen looked at Wanda, but she was looking frightened. "We've done all we can do here. We can't fight off all these agents. Even if we did, where are we going to take a group of scared, out of control Inhumans? We're not equipped to help them."

Aspen watched as the ATCU agents rounded up the crowds. She saw one of them running after a woman and recognized the glistening scales. The woman froze and then fell to the ground. Had someone shot her? "I'm sorry," Aspen whispered before letting Clint pull her away.

Back on the quinjet, Madripoor vanished into the distance. Aspen thought she saw a large, reptilian creature standing atop the palace. It let out a roar, and somehow Aspen knew it was meant for her. "What's going to happen to him?" she asked.

Clint shook his head. "I don't know," he told her. "He put this on himself."

"I know, but all those Specials. What's going to happen to them?"

Clint shook his head again. "I don't know," he said apologetically.

Aspen pressed a hand to the window and watched the city fade away into the oncoming night. Whatever the cost of her time in Madripoor, she had gotten Wanda back and kept her humanity. She leaned her head against the back of the seat and tried to pull her mind out of the neon-lit streets of Madripoor and back to New York where her fiancée waited for her return. Her life would never be normal. She'd accepted that. But she had control over it. It was _hers_. She'd never let anyone force her to be someone else. That other-Aspen she had seen in her vision wasn't her. She'd never let herself shut off all emotion, but she'd also never forget that emptiness that had come with the realization of her full powers. She clutched at the arm of the seat, trying to ground herself. Something warm and soothing washed over her mind and she looked back at Wanda. "It will be all right," Wanda told her. "They can't hurt you anymore."

Aspen managed a small smile. "There's always someone to hurt me. To hurt my friends."

"Then we look out for each other. Thank you for coming for me."

"Of course. I've got your back," Aspen told her. "You're a part of the family, and we'd never leave you behind. Everyone wanted to come, but Zi…"

"I understand. She was strong, but you were stronger in the end."

Aspen shook her head. "You stopped her, not me. I'm alive because of you. A lot of people are." She knew Wanda had struggled at first, remembering her past mistakes and her previous alliance with Hydra and Ultron, but she'd worked harder than ever to prove that she could be an Avenger, that she could help rather than harm. Having such powerful abilities came with the potential for destruction. It was always a balance and sometimes saving people meant crossing the line. Other times it meant not everyone was saved. Aspen had seen what she could be if she tipped over the line and let go of all that made her human. That had once frightened her when she was first learning to use her powers, but then she hadn't realized just how powerful she was. _You could be the most powerful of them all_ , a little voice in the back of her head whispered. _But I don't want to be_ , she told it. Part of being powerful meant taking the responsibility to _not_ use a particular power. She refused to cross that line. Sometimes she felt like she was teetering, but she had her team to pull her back. Her thoughts drifted into sleep, and in her dreams she stood, drenched in blood, before a burning city. When she opened her eyes and saw New York before her, she wondered if her test really was over or if it had only begun.


	40. The Wedding

**Author's Note:** I'll just leave this here...

* * *

 **37 – The Wedding – July 4, 2015**

The sun was just rising when Aspen awoke the day of her wedding. In the week and a half since her eventful trip to Madripoor, Aspen had thrown herself into planning for the wedding. She'd heard her fill of rumors over the disaster in the mysterious city, but somehow it was kept fairly quiet. No major news stations had picked up any word on it. Of course that also meant that she didn't know just what had happened there. Clint had asked Barney to look into it, promising to keep Aspen in the loop. After the wedding, Aspen was planning on convincing the team to go into Madripoor to see if there was anyone there who needed help. She was also going to track down any Inhumans who had been taken by the ATCU.

Now her thoughts were, for once, entirely consumed by her wedding day. Guests would be arriving in a few hours, crowding the Barton farm. Steve had slept downstairs on the couch while Aspen had taken the guest bedroom the night before. Natasha and Wanda had also come with them, crowding into the Barton house like one big family. Wanda was sharing the guest room with Aspen and was still fast asleep, not consumed by nerves like Aspen. Aspen took a deep breath. Her wedding dress hung on the back of the door. It was simple, a deep red with capped sleeves and a back that came down in a V shape midway down her back. The skirt flowed out in graceful swathes, falling at her knees. Wanda had volunteered to do her hair and makeup while Natasha had promised to keep her nerves in check.

She lay there awake for hours until she could hear people rising and starting to move around downstairs. Aspen didn't want to sit in silence so she picked up one of the pillows and threw it at Wanda. Wanda jolted awake, blinking sleepily at Aspen. "What time is it?" she asked blearily, grabbing her phone from the nightstand.

"I was awake and I couldn't wait for you to wake up," Aspen confessed.

"Impatient, aren't you?" Wanda set her phone down and looked up at Aspen.

"Terrified more like."

Wanda smiled. "You've been living with him for how long now?"

"But this is different. This is…the next step. And it's a big one. A huge one. I never went to prom or had braces or any of those other big steps."

"After all you've faced in your life, this should be the _least_ stressful."

"I know. I know. I just want to keep pinching myself because this is totally surreal." Aspen flopped back down on the bed.

"It might seem surreal to you but I can't see any other couple as perfect as you," Wanda told her. "You're two of the most incredible people I know. You're meant for each other."

Aspen beamed at her. "Thank you. I'm glad you're here."

"You deserve this more than anyone. Anyway, it's just after seven-thirty. Any chance of sleeping in?" Wanda asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again if you dropped a brick on my head."

Wanda rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Are you hungry? I can bring you some breakfast."

"Is it really that vital that the groom doesn't see the bride before the wedding?" Aspen asked.

Wanda flung her feet over the side of the bed. "It's tradition. Just stay there," she said. "I'll bring something up."

After Wanda left, Aspen's nerves heightened. She doused the feeling, forcing her mind to take on a calm, settled feeling. She knew nerves were just a part of the day, but she didn't like the tickling sensation in her stomach. There was a tap on the door and Clint stuck his head inside.

"What are you doing up already?" he asked.

Aspen sat up in bed. "I'm wide awake," she told him. He came in and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Nervous?"

"Trying not to be. What about when you married Laura?"

"Oh I was nervous," he said. "Best day of my life, but I was terrified. I knew I was making the right choice. It wasn't that. It was that I was bringing two different parts of my life together – I was still a SHIELD agent, still out in the field, but I was also going to be a husband and, one day, a father. That terrified me. The first few months I was always looking over my shoulder. I would come home after a mission and expect to find Laura lying dead… But it never happened. She was always safe. I got a family and I got to be an agent. So yeah, I was terrified, but never of spending the rest of my life with her. I know you've heard this a hundred times, but you and Steve were meant for each other. You should see the way he looks at you – like you're the only thing in the world whenever he's around you. You're home to him. He's lost almost everything else, but you're here ready to spend the rest of your life with him. There's nothing to be afraid of because this was where you were headed all along. When I first met you, rescued you from the ARTIFACT facility…I saw a girl who'd been taught to expect to lose everything good in her life if she had anything good at all. I saw someone who was terrified of the world and the people in it because she'd spent a lifetime of getting lied to and betrayed and abandoned. I saw someone who was looking for home. You know what I see now?"

"What?"

"I see someone who _is_ home. Not just in the sense that you've arrived but that you've helped bring all these people together, you've brought _them_ home too. What we have – we're lucky. We're so lucky. Just look at Wanda. She didn't have a home before this. She lost her brother, lost herself at one point, but you brought her back with us and you showed her compassion and friendship. You saved that girl's life."

"Just like you saved mine."

"I'm so proud of you, Pen. We've been on such a long journey together, but there's so much more to come."

Aspen crawled forward and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you," she told him.

"Love you too," he replied.

Wanda reentered the room with a tray of breakfast, and Clint got up. "I'm gonna go check on the groom," he said, giving Aspen a wink. "Stay up here until it's time."

"Fine," she said, accepting the tray from Wanda. "I'll keep with tradition."

"You're going to look stunning." Wanda was looking at the dress.

Aspen hadn't assigned bride's maids or a maid of honor. Everyone coming to the wedding was family. Steve hadn't wanted to disappoint anyone so Tony and Sam were sharing the duty of best man, both having prepared a speech. Steve had tried to convince Tony to let Sam speak instead of both, but Tony had simply shook his head and told Steve he had a really good speech planned. Something like veiled fear had flitted behind Steve's eyes, but Aspen knew Tony was honored to be regarded as a friend by the man his father had once revered. Even if he didn't always show it.

Aspen hadn't been able to get ahold of Jane, Fury, Thor, or Bruce, but it was short notice and she had no idea where any of them currently were. Nonetheless, everyone else had been able to make it and, as the early morning hours turned into a more reasonable hour, the guests began to arrive. The wedding would take place in the field in front of the Barton's house. Chairs had been set up and an arbor made of twigs and branches had been placed at the front. As for who was officiating the wedding, they'd talked about this at length, hesitant to bring in someone from the outside particularly since Clint wanted to keep his farm safe from outsiders. He'd solved the problem himself by getting an online certificate for officiating weddings. "I'm a man of many talents," he'd told Aspen when he'd showed her the certificate.

After breakfast, Aspen heard the sounds of guests arriving and went to the window to watch. Everyone had flown into the same airport and were being flown in on one of Tony's private jets that had stealth capabilities. It was important not to draw unnecessary attention to Clint's home. Aspen had worried about that, but Clint had assured her that he trusted everyone she'd invited. She saw her mom, aunt, and grandma walking toward the house, and sent Wanda to bring her mom up, frustrated by her confinement to the room. Her mom came up a few minutes later, and Aspen threw her arms around her.

"I feel like I'm dreaming," she said. "Is this real?"

"It's real. I'm just so, _so_ thankful that I'm here for it." Ava pulled back, putting her hands on Aspen's shoulders and giving her a close look. "You are so beautiful, Aspen. You've grown up to be the most incredibly brave and compassionate woman, and I wish I could take credit, but you did that all yourself. I wish your father could have been here today, but I know he would have been just as proud."

"Thanks, Mom."

"I can't imagine anyone else as perfect as Steve for you to take this next step with. I'm so grateful you found someone who cares and respects you so deeply. There are a lot of people in this world who have tried to hurt you, but with him I never have to worry."

"I suppose it's a good thing I didn't get involved with any shady guys back in my time as a smuggler. How long did you and Dad date before you got married?" She sat down on the bed and Ava joined her, eyes going distant for a moment.

"Well, we met at university and it was _not_ love at first sight. We were both in the same Theoretical Physics class our freshman year and there was this assignment where we had to come up with a previously undiscovered hypothesis and prove it. It was one of those assignments that was more meant to teach you a lesson rather than actually have you discover something like that. But your father and I…we were going to be the first ones to prove something. And we did eventually, but that was after we'd _finally_ decided that working together was more productive than working against each other. After that we sort of became partners. We realized we had the same aptitudes and were both just as socially awkward as the other." Aspen laughed. She could picture her parents working in the lab together, thick goggles firmly elasticized around their heads. "After about a year, he asked me if I wanted to go see a movie. They were showing this documentary on Marie Curie at the local theatre. I didn't know it was a date at the time but, when we kept going out, we both caught on eventually. He asked me to marry him our senior year of college. By then we'd started developing the serum…" She stopped here, and Aspen could hear the regret in her voice.

"I would probably be dead a few times over with the serum," she told her mom. "So really you were already saving my life before I was even born."

Her mom smiled at this, squeezing her hand. "Well, what do we need to do to get you ready?"

"Wanda is doing my hair and makeup. I guess getting into the dress comes last. Could you maybe just stay with me?"

"Of course, honey." Ava leaned forward and kissed Aspen's temple.

"I'm just going to wash my face and brush my teeth. Be right back." She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at her pale reflection. Her green eyes were wide and she looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights. She shook her head, laughing at herself. Hopefully a little makeup would make her look a little less frightened.

The next hour was a blur. Wanda came up and began to brush out Aspen's hair. She was growing it out again, and it fell a few inches past her shoulder blades now. When Wanda was done, Aspen's hair was neatly twisted and curled into a low bun. Wanda added little red flowers that she'd picked from one of the bushes in the Barton's yard. She did Aspen's make up next, just a little, Red eye shadow to bring out the green in her eyes and a touch of eyeliner and mascara to make them pop. Natasha poked her head in and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Kind of nervous verging on excited," she replied.

"You look beautiful."

"How's Steve?" Aspen asked.

"Kind of nervous verging on excited," Natasha answered with a smirk. "But I've never seen him happier."

It still sometimes astonished Aspen that she could be the cause of such happiness. It had once been a struggle to find happiness in her own life but now the idea that she _was_ happy and she could make someone else happy…it was a nice feeling.

"Got your vows ready?" Natasha asked her. "Steve rewrote his like fifty times."

"Well, he bested me by a couple dozen, but I think I've got them right now. Turns out I was overthinking it. Describing how much he means to me is pretty easy. I just didn't want them to sound sappy."

"It's your wedding day. You're allowed to sound sappy," Wanda told her with a laugh.

"I'll be handing out boxes of Kleenex before the ceremony," Natasha said. Aspen couldn't tell if she was joking or not. "Ready to get into your dress?"

"Is it time already?" Somewhere along the line her nerves had disappeared, naturally this time, and had been replaced with excitement. This day felt so right and for once she was happy to be the center of attention. She took a deep breath. "Okay. I guess I'll wait until one of you calls me down when it's time."

"Want me to wait with you?" her mom asked.

"Sure."

Natasha and Wanda hugged her before leaving the room, and Aspen's mom handed her the dress. Aspen hadn't wanted anything fancy. She hadn't wanted to worry about struggling in or out of it or tripping on a train. She'd picked this dress up in a boutique in Brooklyn and it had cost less than thirty dollars, so she was contented with it. The wedding itself had been very inexpensive despite Tony's offers to pay for the whole thing. She let him pay for the food and rent the chairs and tables and small pavilion tent, but everything else was home cooked or homemade.

Aspen changed out of her pajamas and slid the dress on. She had black kitten heels that allowed for no chances to trip and fall (she hoped). She turned to her mom to make sure she looked all right. Ava's eyes were glassy.

"You look so beautiful," she told Aspen. "I am so proud of you. I can't say it enough."

"You can indulge me," Aspen said with a smile. It never got old hearing it from her mom.

There was a knock on the door and Wanda stuck her head into the room. "It's time," she said. Aspen took a deep breath, straightened her dress, and stepped out from the room.

…

Steve had dreamt he was back in the 40s the night before. He didn't remember the dream, just the feeling of dread waking up while his brain was still fuzzy and convinced that he was back in the past. Without Aspen. It had been a physical jolt in his stomach, a missing-a-step sort of sensation. Then he'd heard the sounds of Clint and his family rising and realized he was still in the 21st century at the Barton farm and it was the day of his wedding. The relief that had washed over him…he was home. He'd never felt it more. He'd spent a lot of years with a foot still in the 1940s, not really wanting to go back but not really letting it go. He might have been born back then, might have grown up and gone to war, but the rest of his life belonged in this century. The rest of his life was upstairs prepared to spend that life with him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Clint said as Steve sat up on the couch. Clint and Natasha had insisted Aspen and Steve not see each other until the wedding. He knew it was tradition, and usually he was all about tradition, but he somehow missed her even though she was right upstairs.

"It's all right. I was already awake," Steve told him, stretching and getting up from the couch. He folded the blanket he'd been using and straightened the pillow.

"How're you feeling?" Clint asked.

"Nervous. Excited. Happy." He was feeling a lot of things. Grateful, scared, overwhelmed, but happiness was the emotion that stood out the strongest.

"Good. That's normal. You're gonna be fine. Laura's making breakfast now. Guests should be arriving in an hour. Oh, and happy birthday." He clapped Steve on the shoulder. "Is it–" he paused to count on his fingers, "–97 or 30?"

"Ha."

"No, but seriously, the big three O if we're talking how many years you _weren't_ frozen."

"I stopped getting excited about my birthday a long time ago."

"Well now you can celebrate your anniversary instead," Clint told him. "Oh, and 4th of July incase we'd overshadowed that today."

"That wasn't the intent."

Somewhere in the next room, crying erupted, and Clint turned toward it. "That's my cue." He disappeared and Steve went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face and change into jeans and a T-shirt before going to see if Laura needed help with anything. She shook her head but asked if he'd keep her company. He took a seat at the kitchen counter and watched her cook. "I'm so glad you agreed to have the wedding here," she said. "It's all Cooper and Lila have been talking about lately."

"And little Nathaniel even if we can't understand him," Clint said, entering the room with the infant. The baby was growing quickly. He had Clint's eyes – the sort of greyish blue that could be both serious and funny – and Laura's face and hair. It was still strange seeing Clint with a family. Not that Steve had ever thought it impossible before. He just hadn't really thought about it at all. It wasn't an easy life to maintain with the life he and Clint lived. He'd managed it well though. It gave Steve hope for him and Aspen.

"Want to hold him?" Clint asked, offering the baby to Steve. Before Steve had the chance to decide whether he wanted to hold the baby or not, Clint was handing him over. Steve cradled the back of the baby's head with hand, extra gentle. "He won't bite." Clint was giving him an amused look, and Steve relaxed a little, cradling the baby closer to his chest. Nathaniel looked content, so he must have been holding him right.

"Sorry. I've never really held a baby before. Maybe once or twice at a show back during the war when people wanted their picture taken with me." The babies were usually screaming so it hadn't been an entirely pleasant experience.

"Well, maybe you'll have one of your own some day, so might as well get used to it."

"I don't think Aspen wants children," Steve told him. They hadn't really discussed it. Her mom had brought it up once, but then it had seemed too soon. Now they were getting married and suddenly it was something to think about. Of course in this life… Clint had managed it, but he was retired now and his children were still young. Steve didn't see retiring any time soon. Especially with the new team. They needed him there.

"Now I don't know what's going on in her head, but I would bet a lot that part of the reason she might not want children is the unstable childhood she had, the lack of parents. She had to look out for herself, so she's terrified of being responsible for another human being like that."

"Makes sense. I'm not sure I'd feel ready for that responsibility either."

"Umm, you already are. Our team would not be the same without you and dealing with Tony can sometimes – _most_ of the time – be like dealing with a child. You've already got good experience."

Steve laughed. "I hadn't looked at it that way." He smiled down at Nathaniel deciding he liked the feel of the baby in his arms. It was like holding glass in a way – he was fragile and small, but he was also so full of life and warm and special in a way only a parent could ever really understand.

"See?" Clint was smiling at him. "He likes you and you like him."

"I guess it's something to think about, but I don't want to push Aspen if it's not something she wants."

"Always the gentleman."

Laura set a plate of breakfast in front of Steve, and Clint took the baby back. "For what it's worth," Laura said, "I think you two would make great parents. Maybe not yet, not while you're still out in the field so much, but some day."

"Thanks." He'd never imagined himself as a parent. His own childhood hadn't been ideal. Not unlike Aspen's, he'd grown up without parents. His father had died when Steve was very young, but some of his first memories of him weren't very happy. His father had been prone to drinking and had hit his mother on more than one occasion. After he'd died, Sara Rogers had taken good care of Steve but illness had taken her from him too soon. He hadn't known warmth at the orphanage, not until Bucky had become his friend. He supposed raising his own child might be like a second chance. He could give that child the childhood he and Aspen had been cheated out of. He could make it feel loved in a way he hadn't felt after his mother had died.

The guests started arriving after he was finished with breakfast. He greeted Ava and Aspen's aunt and grandma at the door. Ava hugged him tightly, kissing him on the cheek. He felt a warmth in his heart. Maybe he hadn't completely lost a mother after all. He greeted the rest of the guests as they came in from Tony's jet. Maria Hill along with her niece Lucy and her boyfriend, Noah, Rhodey, Sam, and Vision, and lastly Tony and Pepper. Laura offered coffee and tea while everyone settled and shook off the jet lag. Sam wished Steve a happy birthday and Tony assured him his co-best man's speech was a tearjerker that would possibly make Steve blush.

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Don't worry," Tony told him. "I got it down to fifteen minutes."

"He's kidding. I think," Sam said, as Tony went to greet Clint and Laura. "Shouldn't you be in your suit and tie?"

"Soon." He glanced at the clock. It was a little after nine and they'd decided on ten for the wedding.

"You look nervous."

"It's just kind of hard to believe this is actually happening," Steve told Sam. "Sometimes it felt like the day would keep getting pushed further and further back."

"This life can get in the way, but sometimes you have to push back and take the time to do something important. Like get married. I'm just glad to be here."

"I'm glad to have you. I'm glad everyone could make it. Well…almost everyone." Peggy and Bucky weren't there, but this was something he would have to do without them.

Sam seemed to know exactly who Steve was talking about. "They'd want to be here if they could. He would have wanted to be your best man."

"He wouldn't have stopped teasing me about getting married before him. He was always the one to get the girls, not me. Although I'm not sure he was ready to settle down anytime soon."

And Peggy… Steve and Aspen had gone to visit her a few days before and had found her alert and aware. It was a rare gift these days, and Steve couldn't have been happier to have found her receptive of their news. Other days she didn't remember who Aspen was. A lot of days she still thought Steve was dead. But not that day. That day she had taken the news with a smile that brightened her entire face.

"I'm _so_ glad," Peggy had told them, taking both their hands. "You both deserve to be happy, and it warms my heart to know neither of you have to be alone. Steve, you got your second chance, your second life. I can't imagine anyone more perfect for you to be with."

"We wanted to invite you, of course. I mean, if it was possible…"

"I know," Peggy had said, patting Steve's hand. "I want to be there. I really do."

After that they'd let it go. They both knew she was too sick most days to leave her bed and that she might not remember who they were the day of the wedding. But getting Peggy's approval felt like moving on from a place where he'd been stuck.

He spent the next half an hour catching up with the people he hadn't seen in awhile, asked Pepper about her recent projects, commiserated with Lucy that Thor couldn't make it. He felt himself relax. These were people he cared about, people he trusted and felt comfortable with. Wanda and Natasha came downstairs and joined the others.

"I'll go get changed," Steve told Sam who was standing closest to him, moving off toward Clint and Laura's room, where his suit had been hung. It was just plain black and white with a thin, black tie. They'd told the guests to dress however they liked. It wasn't a formal, fancy event though Tony had, of course, worn one of his expensive suits. Steve was just straightening his tie when there was a tap on the door. "Come in," he said, taking one last look in the mirror.

"Hey." It was Natasha. "Just wanted to make sure you're ready." She came up to him and fussed with his tie a little even though it had looked straight to him. He smiled, letting her fuss. "You look very handsome," she told him.

"Thanks."

She tightened the tie and took a step back. "There. The others are headed out to get their seats. You ready?"

"I think so, yeah." He was suddenly nervous again though he really didn't have a reason to be.

Natasha seemed to notice. She reached out and squeezed his hand. "Relax," she told him. He calmed a little, steadying his breathing. "I'll see you out there."

She left him, and he stood for another minute before heading out to the field out front of the Barton house. Everyone was seated, and he took his spot at the arbor where the vows would be exchanged. It felt surreal standing here at the head. He felt like he should have been sitting there, a bystander to the event, but this was his day. _Their_ day.

Tony winked at him from his seat, and Steve shook his head, but he was feeling less nervous. The music started and suddenly Lila was walking down the aisle, throwing wildflowers. Cooper followed holding a little box for the wedding rings. Aspen had picked the music for walking down the aisle and _Can't Help Falling in Love_ filled the air. _Take my hand, take my whole life, too…for I can't help falling in love with you_.

And then she was there, walking down the aisle with her arm through Clint's. Time seemed to still and then reverse as Steve remembered the first time he'd seen that smile. It had been unsure then but genuine. She'd made him smile in a way no one else had in his first few months in this new life. Now she was smiling radiantly, her cheeks and eyes glowing with the same happiness he felt.

 _Like a river flows, surely to the sea, Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be._

As she walked toward him, her eyes stayed on him the entire time, and he had never been so sure of anything before. This was where he was meant to be.

 _Take my whole life, too. For I can't help falling in love with you… For I can't help falling in love with you_.

The music faded, and Clint briefly hugged Aspen before taking his place under the arbor. Aspen stood before Steve, her smile still glowing. He couldn't stop smiling either.

"So here goes…I got this certificate online, so I'm not really secretly a priest or pastor or whatever," Clint said. The others chuckled. "Gathered here before us today are two people who have come to mean the world to me. When Aspen first asked me to walk her down the aisle, I was completely honored. When I first met her – I promise this isn't going to be a really long speech, just bear with me – when I first met Aspen, she was working as a smuggler. She was alone and afraid and had a few people who really wanted to kill her. I was sent to recruit her into SHIELD after she infiltrated a highly guarded SHIELD site where Thor's hammer was, at the time, stationed rather firmly in the ground. She managed to evade my questions quite well and escape, making off with some documents. I knew right then she was one of _us_. But she's become more than that. She's more than a SHIELD agent, more than an Avenger. She's one of the most compassionate, kind, thoughtful, and intelligent people I know. So it's an honor to not only walk her down the aisle but to make this marriage happen. And Steve." He turned to Steve. "Well let's just say I can't imagine a better man for Aspen. He matches her kind heart and mind, and I've come to really admire him as both a person and a teammate and a friend. So let's get started."

Aspen laughed, but no one minded Clint's variation on the wedding ceremony. He could have told knock-knock jokes for the first half an hour, and Steve wouldn't have complained. He never wanted this moment to end.

"So today we're gathered here to unite Steve Rogers and Aspen Tolvar in marriage. Now for them it might not look too different – they live together already in the new Avengers facility. They've worked together for a few years now, saved the world a few times. But today we're tying that bond together, we're making it unbreakable so that even if the world conspires against them, tries to take that happiness away, they can't. They're proving that happiness and love can triumph if it's strong enough. Luckily Ultron isn't here to crash the party, so we're off to a pretty good start."

Even Tony laughed at this though Clint probably wasn't entirely joking. "We live in a world filled with a lot of bad things. We've seen a lot of bad things ourselves and fought against it. In this way we've all been brought together. Now how does a soldier from World War II end up with an ex-smuggler who was born forty-five years after this particular soldier went on ice and was lost to the world for nearly seventy years? I'm not sure I believe in fate or coincidences, but I don't have a single doubt in my mind that they found each other because they were meant to be with each other. They were both lost when they met, both looking for people to trust. They found that in each other. From the day they met onto today, they stayed friends. They helped each other learn to trust again, helped each other learn to be happy again. They _never stopped_ being there for each other. So maybe it's inevitable really that they now stand before us ready to take their love to the next level. Let them be an example to us – let their kindness and compassion and love for not only each other but for the world and the people in it inspire us. So now it's time that they tell us and each other just what their love really means to them." He nodded to Aspen.

"Steve, when I look at you I see a hero. Not the same hero the world sees. I don't see the red, white, and blue or the shield or the giant A on your forehead." She smirked a little at this. "I see a man who always puts others first, a man who sacrificed himself to save the world, and a man who saved my life. When I met you I was coming out of a very bad time. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged. I had about one friend. But then Nick Fury came up to me and asked me to go try to help this World War II hero that had just been unfrozen after sixty-seven years. I thought he was crazy sending me. I hadn't even known who Captain America was for more than a year. How was I supposed to make this guy feel better when he'd just woken up in a world he didn't recognize? At first I thought you might not even want me to be there, but then you stood and shook my hand. You were unfailingly polite even after all you'd been through. Steve Rogers is a man that brings hope and redemption to a world that sometimes doesn't deserve it. Being around him is like being around this ever burning _goodness_. When I look at you I see everything good about this world, everything good about my life. You make me want to be the best that I can be. I spent a lot of my life alone and wanting to be alone, but when I'm with you I never want to leave. You are my home and my heart, and I want to spend every day for the rest of my life with you by my side. I want to try to make you as happy as you've made me."

"Steve?" Clint prompted. Steve noticed Ava dabbing at her eyes.

"Aspen. You speak of me saving your life, but I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't walked into my room that day to try to cheer me up. I'd lost my entire life and everyone I knew with it, but you were the first person to acknowledge that. You were the first person to genuinely ask how I was. You showed me kindness even though you were hurting. You put yourself aside for a complete stranger and it made all the difference in my life. Through everything we've been through you've been this unwavering force beside me. There have been so many times when I thought I might lose you and that frightened me more than anything. But here we are, still somehow alive after so many battles and adversaries. We made it. We made it together. That's how I want it to always be – _together_. We're stronger that way. We're happier that way. I never had to consider that I might not get another chance at love or life because you showed me that there was still so much out there. My only regret is that it took me so long to kiss you."

Aspen laughed. "It did take you awhile."

"Well, with all that said, we'll start the vows," Clint said, motioning Cooper forward with the rings. Aspen took the one for Steve. She looked up at him as Clint spoke the next words. "Do you, Aspen Aylin Tolvar take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," Aspen said, sliding the gold ring onto Steve's finger.

"And do you, Steven Grant Rogers take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Steve said and slipped the other ring onto Aspen's finger.

"By the powers invested in me by 'Get Ordained Online,' I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss."

The world felt like it was on fire as Steve leaned down to kiss Aspen. She wrapped her arms around his neck and met him. Applause filled the air, and the glowing feeling didn't fade even when the kiss was over. Aspen entwined her fingers with his, and they turned to face their friends and family. Aspen's skin was warm against his, and he never wanted to let go.

After the ceremony there was food and dancing. 40s love songs crooned in the background, and Steve and Aspen shared the first dance. "I love you," he told her, holding her close, hand pressed against her back.

"I love you too," she returned, pressing her head against his shoulder. As the music turned livelier, they turned the dance floor over to the others and sat to watch as Tony and Pepper challenged Clint and Laura to a dance off. All of them were surprisingly good at dancing. Steve had barely managed to pick up on the basics, but clearly the others had had dance lessons before. Ava came over to congratulate them, and Steve invited her onto the dance floor for the next song – a slower Sinatra tune.

Finally it came time for cake and speeches. Tony insisted Sam go first, so Sam stepped up to the center of the pavilion. "As co-best man, I have the honor of giving half a speech," he said. "I was privileged to meet Steve last April after he lapped me three times on his morning jog. And no, I haven't let that go yet," he said, looking directly at Steve. "I didn't quite know what to expect when I shook his hand. He was a war hero, an Avenger. He'd saved New York from freaking aliens two years before that. I didn't expect to have anything to relate to, but we did. We were both soldiers and we'd both lost someone. Not only did he reach out to me when he was in trouble, but he became one of the most true and loyal friends in my life. I can say the same of Aspen. There was no hesitation with her, she just reached out and became my friend. I think all of you will agree when I say that trust is a difficult thing to give, but I would give my trust over a thousand times to Aspen and Steve. I wish you guys all the happiness in the world. You both deserve it." He raised his glass. "To Steve and Aspen." The others echoed their names, and Steve tipped his glass toward Sam, touched by his words.

"My turn, I guess," Tony said, stepping up and giving Sam a pat on the shoulder. "Hard speech to follow. What can I say about Steve Rogers and Aspen Tolvar? Steve and I don't always see eye to eye. Never have. Maybe never will. But I know this world and my life would not be the same without him. I grew up hearing all about him from my dad. I mean _all. The. Time._ I got tired of hearing about this perfect soldier who saved the world and sacrificed himself. I thought, no one can be _that_ good of a person. I was wrong. Steve _is_ that good of a person. It's been an honor to work alongside him and an honor to call him my friend." He tipped his glass to Steve. "And Aspen." He turned to her, shaking his head. "I've tried to adopt her legally on several occasions." Everyone laughed at this, and Aspen shook her head, smiling. "You can't not like Aspen. She has this way of inserting herself in your life and becoming one of the brightest most wonderful things in it. She makes me want to be a better person and she's never afraid to get in my face and shout at me when I'm being an idiot. It's rare to find two people as in love as these two are or as perfect as they are together. I'm just honored I get to be a part of their lives as they go into their future together. To Aspen and Steve!" Everyone raised their glasses to the second toast. Aspen wiped away a tear.

Ava offered her congratulations and told them how proud she was. Wanda thanked them for the kindness they'd showed her and told them that no one deserved happiness more than them. Then Natasha got up.

"Making friends hasn't always been easy for me," she said. "In the past, in my line of work, trusting people was off limits. Even when I worked at SHIELD, I could count the number of people I trusted on half a hand. Then I began working with Steve after he became a SHIELD agent. He saved my life during the Hydra takeover. I don't think he trusted me at this point. He knew I kept a lot of secrets, but he didn't hesitate. I saw that no matter what the circumstances, he was always trying to do the right thing. He always put others first. I realized it'd be stupid not to trust him. I'd worked with Aspen a little at that point, but not a lot. It wasn't until after we started working together with the Avengers again that I really got to know her. She never stopped being my friend maybe even before I counted her as a friend. There is no judgment with her, nothing but sincerity and compassion. It didn't matter to her what I'd been or what I'd done because she could see straight down to who I really was at the center of my soul. She has a way of doing that. I don't know what I did to deserve two such friends, but I know I wouldn't be the same person without them."

As she passed to go back to her table, Aspen stood up and hugged her. "Thank you, Tasha."

Dessert was served and conversations resumed. Everyone was happy and for once nothing weighed on them. Steve felt himself relax. _Really_ genuinely relax for the first time in a long time.

"So where are you going for your honeymoon?" Pepper asked from the next table over.

"The Oregon Coast," Aspen told her. "We've rented a cabin for a couple of weeks. There's not a very good signal out there so world crises will have to wait. It's really nice though. Indoor plumbing and everything."

"It's the perfect couple of weeks for it." July had been warm so far, but not overly hot, and the ocean breeze would keep the heat at bay.

"So what exactly do you do in your free time when you're not off saving the world?" Maria asked.

"You mean besides-" Tony started, but Steve cut him off with a glare.

"I'm bringing my drawing supplies. Aspen's bringing her camera. There are some hiking trails nearby. We might rent a boat."

"If you have time." Tony had to get that in.

"Well anyway," Aspen said, ignoring Tony. "We're looking forward to it. I used to visit the coast when I was growing up so it always holds fond memories for me. I want to swim in the ocean."

The flight was four hours in the quinjet Steve had borrowed. It was their plan to leave at six. Tony was taking Aspen's mom, aunt, and grandma to a five-star hotel in New York so they wouldn't have to fly all the way back to Arizona that night. Quarter to five, Aspen and Steve went inside to change out of their wedding clothes and get their suitcases for the trip. Before they left, they thanked their guests, exchanging hugs. Ava kissed both of them on the cheek. Tony slipped Steve something ("For later.") with a wink. Steve made note to toss it into the ocean. He shook Clint's hand and told him that the ceremony had been perfect.

"Good cause I was really sweating the whole time," Clint said. "You two have fun. Relax. Send me a postcard."

He engulfed Aspen in his arms before letting her go, and Steve could have sworn he was close to crying. Then suddenly it was over and everyone was telling them goodbye and good luck and they were getting onto the quinjet and taking off into the evening.

…

It was quiet on the flight, a sudden sort of quiet that filled in where there had been laughter and voices just moments before. Aspen wasn't sure if she'd feel different, but in a way she did. The rush and excitement of the ceremony was still thrumming under her skin. It had happened so quickly. She touched the gold ring on her left hand. Married. She'd never imagined herself getting married before she'd met Steve. She'd never imagined having a future with someone. With Steve she felt like her future held the possibility of everything while being safely anchored to him.

"What did Tony give you?" she asked him.

Steve's cheeks immediately burned red. "Something I'm getting rid of the second I get a chance."

"Oh." She regretted asking because suddenly her mind was overthinking everything. "It was perfect," she said a moment later, trying to change the subject. "The wedding. I just can't wrap my mind around it." She glanced over at his left hand. The matching ring glinted there, and she felt a trill go through her heart.

"I can't either." He turned to look at her, blue eyes burning into hers. "Sometimes I started to think we'd never get the chance."

"I suppose we could have gone to a hitching post. You know, Las Vegas style. Eloped and honeymooned in Paris."

"I'm glad everyone got to come though. Your mom would have been disappointed if we'd eloped."

"She knew, didn't she?" Aspen asked. "You asked her permission that last time she visited. I knew you two were scheming. That's why she was talking babies." She stuck out her tongue and cringed.

"How do you know I asked her permission?"

"Umm, because you're _you_? Of course you asked permission." Aspen gave him a loving look. "You really are adorable."

…

They gained three hours flying west. They were tired by then, but they drove the rental car into the small seaside town for an early dinner. The cabin had been arranged ahead of time, the rental car parked there when they arrived. The jet fortunately had auto-pilot and could be sent back to New York after they'd landed and unloaded their suitcases.

There was a 4th of July fireworks display on the beach right at sunset, and Steve and Aspen watched. "Happy birthday," Aspen told him. "I don't think I had the chance to say that yet."

"I'd rather celebrate other things." He turned and brushed his lips against her skin just below her ear.

"You're right. The signing of the Declaration of Independence was pretty important," she said, but he was distracting her and her thoughts went hazy as he moved down her jaw.

"It is, but right now that's not what I'm thinking about."

Aspen's blood was on fire. She felt unhinged, but in a good way. The fireworks hadn't ended yet, but Steve rose from the bench they sat on, entwining his fingers with Aspen's. The drive back to the cabin was filled with tension, unspoken words, fear and desire. They'd hardly made it inside before Aspen found Steve's lips, pressing herself up against him. Heat was rising all over her skin until she felt like she was on fire. The fireworks crashed and boomed above them, and the colorful chemical lights dazzled her eyes. His hands touched the bare skin under the hem of her shirt and then were tugging it over her head. She was still on fire, his lips making sparks where they touched. She pulled his shirt over his head and laid her hands on his bare skin, feeling the pounding of his heart. A rush of emotions threatened to overwhelm her. She didn't know what she was doing. Didn't know anything beyond loving him so much it hurt. It was like a physical ache, and she couldn't seem to get close enough. She slid her jeans off, and they crumpled to the floor. The air rushed around her, but she didn't mind the cool breeze from the open windows and the ocean beyond. They had moved across the room now, through the doors and closer to their destination. They didn't speak, but there wasn't much to say. Aspen shivered as he kissed her shoulder. She fumbled with his belt like she'd forgotten how to use her fingers. The white sheets on the bed smelled of clean soap mingled with the salty air that penetrated the room like a ghost.

Her heart was a drum now. Louder than the fireworks. She pressed her forehead against his, letting her breathing calm. She was scared. She was ready. She was terrified. She was impatient. He waited, didn't press her, didn't push her. That melted her heart even more. It made her less afraid. It didn't matter that she was inexperienced. He was too, and that wasn't what mattered. She took a deep breath. The fireworks had stopped leaving them with the lapping of the ocean's waves and the sound of their own ragged breathing.

Once the thought of exposing herself – her body, her _soul_ – to someone seemed frightening. It made her vulnerable in a way she didn't feel comfortable with. It made her feel inadequate and small. She felt none of those things tonight. To feel vulnerable meant she didn't trust the one she was exposing herself to, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. She trusted Steve with ever fiber of her soul.

She thought she'd felt every depth of love she could feel for him, but somehow it went deeper. It was an endless well, and she was barely discovering the surface. Perhaps it wasn't perfect, wasn't practiced, but Aspen wouldn't have changed a thing about that night. There was nothing to compare it to, but she didn't need past experiences to know that it had been right.

 _Like a river flows, surely to the sea, Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be._

She fell asleep in his arms, wanting to wake up the same way every morning for the rest of her life.

 _Take my whole life, too. For I can't help falling in love with you…_

The ocean rushed onto the beach outside, but she'd already been washed out to sea, pulled down under never to come up again. Love could do that to a person. She was drowning in it, but she was breathing deeply and his heartbeat was steady against her back. If this was drowning then she never wanted to come to the surface for air.

 _For I can't help falling in love with you_.

* * *

 _Can't Help Falling in Love_ copyrighted: Elvis Presley


	41. Inhuman Threat

**38 – Inhuman Threat – July 20, 2015**

It was surreal stepping off the jet back in New York at the end of two weeks. Aspen squinted against the bright sunlight, smiling when Steve put a hand on her waist. They pulled their suitcases behind them, meeting Sam and Wanda at the doors to the facility. Sam took Aspen's suitcase.

"Welcome back," he said, giving them both a grin. "How was the ocean?"

"Beautiful, calming, very nice," Aspen replied. She didn't really have words to describe the last two weeks. She hadn't thought it possible to fully relax, to fully let herself forget the world if only for a moment, but two weeks by the ocean with Steve had been unlike anything else she'd ever experienced. It was like they were in a world of their own, just the two of them. Part of her hadn't wanted to come back to reality but now that she was home, she had to admit she was ready to throw herself back into work.

"How was the rest of the world?" she asked.

"Unusually calm," Wanda told them. "But why don't you get settled before we catch you up? You've had a long fight."

They set their suitcases in their room but decided to unpack later. Phoenix was instantly winding her way through their legs, purring so loudly that Aspen was surprised the floor wasn't vibrating. She scooped the cat up in her arms and kissed her face.

"Back to contending for your attention," Steve said, reaching out a hand to stroke the cat.

"Hmm, I'm not sure you'll have to try too hard," she said, flitting her eyes to him. His ears reddened slightly, but he smiled at her, his eyes glowing with the newfound happiness that had stemmed from their marriage. The whole world looked a little different, tinged in brighter shades. She felt little jolts of excitement that she hadn't felt before over simple things like his hand in hers or when she thought of her _new_ name: Aspen Rogers. She hadn't changed her driver's license or written it down anywhere yet, but the thought of it made her giddy like a middle schooler writing her crush's last name after her first.

Wanda, Sam, and Vision were waiting for them out in the lounge. "Don't you want to relax a little before jumping straight back into saving the world?" Sam asked.

"Nah, we can only relax for so long before we start to get itchy." Aspen settled herself on the couch, tucking her legs under her. Steve sat next to her, leaning forward as Sam began to talk.

"We've been looking into Madripoor and the Inhumans who were…created? Anyway, Madripoor has been covered up. Everything has been quiet. Natasha is currently tracking down some people to interrogate. Probably everyone's too scared to say anything. The world isn't ready for Inhumans yet."

"And no one in Madripoor really wants to call attention to themselves considering it's a place of lowlifes and criminals," Aspen added. "The last thing they want is the CIA swarming all over."

"Do we know anything else about this ATCU organization?" Steve asked.

"Barney pulled in a few favors," Sam said. "It's a fairly new organization tasked with keeping unstable Inhumans off the streets so that they aren't a threat to anyone. Nothing suggests they mean the Inhumans harm, but he wasn't sure if they kept them prisoner or what they did. It's all very hush hush at this point. Doesn't sound like they're working with the Inhumans though. They don't have the resources to train them."

"It's not their fault that they were exposed to the Terrigin," Wanda said, looking upset. "The government is expecting the worst of these people."

"Until we're sure those Inhumans are getting the help they need, I'm not willing to just let it go," Aspen assured Wanda. "I know better than to trust a government run organization that thinks it can help people who are different."

"Is it possible we might run into some opposition if we investigate this organization?" Vision asked. "They might not recognize any authority we try to exert."

"Well I wasn't planning on flashing my Avengers card around and expecting answers. I was thinking something a little more subtle. Where's Natasha anyway? That's her area of expertise."

"She's been chatting with her contacts, trying to get the inside word," Sam told her. "She should be back by tomorrow afternoon."

"Until then I'm going to contact some people and see what I can find out about the word on the street." She stood.

"Don't you want to unpack first?" Sam asked, giving her a look.

"No time like the present," she told him before pulling her phone from her pocket and moving out to the terrace to make her call.

"About time you called," Amber answered with her usual tone – somewhere between friendly and hostile. The Inhuman girl hadn't warmed up to Aspen very much since they'd met.

"Yeah, sorry I haven't kept in touch lately. Hectic schedule."

"We finally have something in common besides trusting the wrong people. Ever since the Terrigin was exposed to the population we've been working over time taking in Inhumans."

"Why had I never heard of Terrigin?" Aspen asked. It seemed like everyone but her team was aware of it.

"People hear things. Information travels. We're a pretty tight knit group. Not a lot of trust."

"We're always here to help." Aspen would have been lying if she'd said she wasn't a little hurt that Amber hadn't come to her before. She always wanted Amber and her team to know they could turn to the Avengers for help.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but some Inhumans aren't big fans of the Avengers. The world isn't a safe place for Inhumans but everyone loves the Avengers. Some see it as unfair."

"You know we don't mean for it to be that way."

"Relax. I much prefer living in the shadows. Some of these people have had tough lives and they don't see past the glamor of Avenger's Tower."

"Understandable."

"What was it you called about?" Amber asked.

"Well, it's related to the Terrigin and all the new Inhumans. Have you heard of ATCU?"

The line was silent for so long that Aspen thought the call had dropped. Then Amber said, "It's not something you should be messing with."

"I'm not messing with it. I just want to learn more about them. Some Inhumans were taken by them recently. I wanted to make sure they were safe."

"Depends on your definition of safe."

"Well, I was thinking of somewhere where they help Inhumans learn to use their powers, keep them safe."

"You're not that naïve."

"No. Which is why I'm looking into it further. I couldn't help those people before so I want to help them now."

Amber knew something. Aspen was sure of that. Whether the girl would fill her in, she wasn't sure. She was still on tenuous terms with Amber even though Julian's betrayal of them both had put them firmly on the same side.

"They're exactly what you might expect a government organization run by humans to be like. They don't understand Inhumans and they aren't trying to."

"You sound as if you've had a run in with them," Aspen said. "What happened?"

"They got a few of ours. New recruits." Amber blamed herself. Aspen could hear it in her voice. "They weren't even doing anything, just going to the store. One of them made it back, got away. He told us that these men in black with the letters ATCU on their backs had come out of nowhere and used these specialized guns to take the Inhumans down. They didn't kill them. Just took them. People who are trying to help don't just snatch people off the streets."

"But they didn't just kill them on sight. There's got to be another motive."

"Maybe they seek to control Inhumans."

"Maybe but I think the government has to be careful about that sort of thing. Now if we're talking human experimentation then that's right up Hydra's alley."

"Either way it's not something we can ignore."

"It's not."

"Is your team willing to help?"

"I don't see why they wouldn't be."

"It's just, you know, we might have to break into a government facility. Pretty sure that's illegal. I wasn't sure where your boyfriend stood on that."

"Husband."

"What?"

"I married him two weeks ago."

"It has been awhile then…" Amber let out a deep sigh. "Settle things with your team and I'll call you when I have a location on an ATCU facility."

"You have the resources for that?"

Aspen could hear the smile in Amber's voice as she spoke. "No but I have someone who's rather good at tracking people down. We should have a location by tomorrow."

"Good. Call me when you do."

…

"You're planning something," Sam said the second Aspen returned from making her call.

"You know me so well. Anyone up for infiltrating a government agency?" she asked before sharing what Amber had told her.

"We need to know more before we go breaking in," Steve said.

"We know it's a government agency tasked with containing threats. Inhumans aren't threats; they need help. They didn't ask to be exposed to the Terrigin."

"Something's off," Sam said. "It doesn't feel right."

"I'm not saying it doesn't seem suspicious. I just don't think it's a good idea to go rushing in making accusations," Steve replied.

"We won't rush in. Lily can transport people, remember?" Steve was quiet, and Aspen knew he was taking his leadership role seriously. She forced herself to be patient. "At least let me go with Amber and her team. The Avengers don't have to get involved, but if they _are_ hurting the Inhumans then we can't just do nothing."

"I wasn't suggesting we do nothing. We just need to be careful about this. At least wait until Natasha gets back. She might have something important," Steve suggested.

"All right. Fair enough. Any news on Rumlow?" she asked the others.

"Silence," Sam replied, looking disappointed. "For all the trouble he made in LA, the guy knows how to stay quiet."

"He'll show up again. Or the weapons he stole will."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"We'll handle it," Aspen said though she couldn't help remembering the last time they'd gone head to head with Crossbones – and failed. It wasn't something she was proud of. "Anything else new?"

"Vision's still the all reigning champion at chess. No one wants to play with him anymore. Your cat seriously hates me. That's about it." Sam gave Phoenix a tense look as the cat slipped into the room. She went immediately to Wanda and curled up in her lap. Wanda smiled a little smugly, stroking the cat's back while Sam shook his head.

"Okay, maybe now I can unpack," Aspen said although she felt like she had better things to do.

"I'm just going to check up on things, check messages," Steve said. "I'll unpack later."

"They never stop, do they," Sam said.

"It's a miracle they took any time off," Wanda agreed.

"Truth be told," Aspen told them, "real life is kind of boring compared to being an Avenger."

…

Tony had left a few messages on Steve's phone in his office. Steve shook his head at them, deleting each one after he listened. He did not feel the need to discuss his honeymoon with Tony. He turned his attention to the news on his computer. Several headlines had been archived for him by Friday. One was a video from WHiH news. He pressed play. The news reporter was talking about Sokovia. The topic of Sokovia had been on the news for months now but, as Steve watched, the words running along the bottom of the screen gave him pause. _Multiple countries recovering from catastrophic damage caused by sentient robot Ultron, leaders asking for aid, and for the Avengers to be held accountable._ It was followed by: _Efforts to recover the remaining Ultron technology continue, as components from the advanced robot are capturing large sums on the black market._

Steve pressed his fingers to his temples. How did the defeat of Ultron still feel like a loss? They'd saved a lot of lives, but they'd lost a lot of people too. They'd created this mess and now other people were picking up the pieces. A part of him was still frustrated with Tony. He'd been the one to create Ultron and yet now he was retired and it was Steve's responsibility to deal with this. He agreed that they should be held accountable. They'd let this happen even if he would have put a stop to Ultron before he'd been created if he'd known. They tried to save people, tried to make the world a better place, but he couldn't deny that if it hadn't been for them in the first place, Sokovia would never have suffered such a catastrophe. And now Ultron technology was being sold on the black market. It was another thing to worry about. Part of him wanted to call Tony up and demand he deal with it. He had the money to buy all those parts back.

"Ever since the Avengers made their debut appearance in New York City during the alien invasion, they've been regarded as superheroes. Where does their jurisdiction end though? Is it safe to leave them in control of themselves? Should the Avengers be regulated by the government or are we safer with them in control? All questions that the world is asking following the tragedy in Sokovia. Tune in next week for a special interview with Scott Lang regarding the Vista Corp heist–"

Steve shut the video off. Somehow the rest and relaxation he'd gotten in the last two weeks was gone, replaced by a weight that settled onto his shoulders like an old friend. He checked his e-mail and saw that he'd gotten an invitation to attend an opening at a museum in Boston for a Captain America exhibit commending his efforts in the war. Tony was always talking about public image. Maybe this was just the thing to promote something positive for once. Even if he still wasn't comfortable with the idea of a museum exhibit for him, there was more to it. It was important to educate people on Word War II and usually the Howling Commandos got their own mention. It wasn't for another few weeks so he made note to ask Aspen about it.

He was having trouble concentrating. His mind kept going back to Sokovia. Sometimes he felt like he was still there, high above the world looking down at the destruction. Could they have done more? It was a question that constantly nagged him. People expected it of them whether it was possible or not.

"You saw the news." Steve started. Wanda stood in the doorway to his office. "Sorry. I could hear it down the hall." Her eyes were clear, but Steve knew Sokovia was affecting her more than it ever could the rest of them.

"Yeah," he said. "People want to hold us accountable for the destruction. I don't think they're wrong."

"I suppose Stark thinks throwing money at them will solve the problem." There was disdain in her voice though she hadn't been openly hostile toward Tony since she'd joined the team.

"It doesn't bring back all those people who died."

"No," Wanda said softly, "it doesn't."

She hadn't seen Pietro die, but Steve knew she had felt it, felt the life fade from her twin. It wasn't something you just got over. He'd seen Pietro riddled with bullets, seen his sacrifice, seen him become a hero.

"I ask myself every day if we could have done more, could have done something different…" Steve told her.

"I think creating Ultron should have been done differently or rather not done at all, but it's in the past now. There is no time for regrets. We have to move on somehow and the world will have to too." Steve nodded, his eyes going distant. "You're tired. You should be resting, not watching those videos."

"There are more?" he asked, raising his eyes to hers.

"None that mention Sokovia. It's some exposé about a criminal. There was one about you and Aspen. Just rumors about whether or not she was wearing an engagement ring when you were in LA."

"They're a little behind on that," Steve said. He was grateful at least that they hadn't intruded on his and Aspen's lives any more than that. "I think I will go lay down for a little while." He could feel a strain at the base of his neck. He wasn't sure what to focus on – resolving the issue of Sokovia (if that were possible), tracking down Crossbones, investigating ATCU, figuring out what had happened in Madripoor, or improving public image.

"Remember that you're not alone," Wanda said as if reading his mind. She touched his arm lightly. "You have a team. You don't need to handle everything on your own. Let Aspen and me look into the Inhumans. Sam is tracking Crossbones and Natasha is finding out more about Madripoor. Just because you're our leader doesn't mean you can't take a few minutes to yourself."

Steve smiled. "I'm still getting used to officially leading the team. I think I'm trying to handle too much at once."

"Focus on one problem at a time."

Steve took her advice and headed toward his and Aspen's room. She was nearly done unpacking, tucking her clothes neatly away and tossing the rest in the laundry hamper. He sat down on the bed, and she turned to give him an assessing look.

"You look stressed out," she told him.

"Wanda seems to think so too." Aspen came over, sitting next to him and putting her head on his shoulder and her arm around his waist. Steve told her about the news video and how the world wanted to hold the Avengers accountable for the damage done to Sokovia. "It's started," he said. "People thinking we need someone to control us."

"No one is going to control us," Aspen said firmly. Steve knew how touchy she was about control. It was one thing having something like SHIELD to help them out, but the idea of being _controlled_ wasn't one that settled well with them.

"And then there's a museum in Boston that wants me to be there for the opening of a Captain America exhibit."

"And that's stressing you out? I think that's probably the least of your worries."

"Should I go? I don't want to make things worse with the public." He hated having to care so much what the public thought. He always wanted them to think of the Avengers as a force for good, but now he felt like he had to prove that the world needed them or that they were still trying to save it.

"I think it's a good idea. It shows that you still honor the heroes from World War II and that you still uphold the ideals of Captain America. People need a reminder that their old hero is still here to protect them."

"Will you come with me?" he asked. His shield might protect him against Hydra and aliens and bullies, but Aspen was his shield when it came to anything to do with PR.

"Of course. But only if you let me dress up as one of those chorus girls from your war bond shows."

He kissed her head. "Not happening."

"Will you be wearing your suit? I'd feel a little out of place without my own red, white, and blue costume."

"I was thinking black pants and a button up shirt."

"Where's the fun in that?" she asked.

"If they have a ribbon cutting ceremony, I'll let you hold the scissors," he told her, lying back on the bed and pulling her with him. She nestled against his side, resting her head on his chest.

"You're the best," she told him. "I think it's a good thing I married you."

He smiled, the weight on his shoulders lifting a little. "I think so too."


	42. ATCU

**39 – ATCU – July 21, 2015**

Natasha returned the next morning with news from Madripoor. They sat around their meeting table, Rhodey joining them. Aspen set down a cup of coffee in front of Steve before taking a seat next to him and cradling her own mug of tea.

"Thanks," he said, feeling like he needed the caffeine boost today.

"Natasha looked tired, but she started into her story once they were all seated. "So as Clint and Wanda and Aspen saw, all the new Inhumans were taken by this ATCU organization. The whole incident was kept quiet to avoid law enforcement and federal agencies shutting down Madripoor. My informants were able to get some inside information on Prince Baran and his collection of super-humans. Apparently the prince wasn't lucky enough to escape capture. His collection didn't get captured though. They formed some sort of protective shield over the prince's castle. Since things have started going back to normal there – well as normal as Madripoor could ever be – they've taken over."

"Makes me wonder why they served the prince in the first place," Aspen said.

"Protection from the world? Maybe they had nowhere else to go," Natasha suggested. "But they're not hiding now."

"They're scared," Wanda said. "Scared of people rising up against them."

"Any idea where the ATCU is holding the Inhumans or the prince?" Aspen asked.

Natasha shook her head. "I haven't had the chance to track them."

"It's okay. We might not need to." She reiterated her conversation with Amber to Rhodey and Natasha. "Lily can transport us right in once we have a location."

"Is that such a good idea?" Rhodey asked. "Breaking into a government facility?"

"We have no idea what they're doing to those Inhumans," Aspen said.

"But bringing in more Inhumans isn't going to smooth things over."

"Who said anything about smoothing things over?" Aspen asked. "They started this."

"We don't know who's behind the ATCU," Steve spoke up, sensing that an argument was brewing.

"Actually _I_ do," Rhodey said. "There hasn't been a public announcement yet because they don't want to scare people."

"Well don't keep us in suspense." Aspen was staring at Rhodey with a sharp expression.

"The President. As in of the United States," he told them. "Action needed to be taken so he formed the ATCU to keep unstable Inhumans off the streets."

"Why are you privy to this information?" Aspen asked, looking affronted. "And why are you just now telling us this?"

"I just recently found out," Rhodey defended. "They're keeping them safe. They're even trying to find a cure."

"A cure? Like being Inhuman is some sort of disease?"

"No one's saying that," Rhodey defended.

"The ATCU is apparently."

"Do you think all those people wanted to be changed?" Rhodey asked. "This gives them a chance."

"But it doesn't give them a choice. I wasn't given a choice when I got my powers either but I did have a choice of keeping them or not. I chose to keep them. Somehow I don't see the ATCU giving them that chance."

"You're just assuming the worst."

Aspen set down her mug of coffee, perhaps in an attempt not to spill it. She sat up straighter. Steve had seen that set to her posture before. Usually before she launched into an impassioned argument. "Yeah, I am. I don't trust the government all that much after all the corruption I've seen. Hydra got into SHIELD. They can get into the ATCU. Or A.I.M. or someone."

"You can't just assume Hydra is everywhere. With all due respect, plenty of government run organizations have been saving lives since way before the Avengers existed."

Aspen leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. She seemed to be using all her self-restraint not to argue back.

"Has Amber heard anything to suggest that the Inhumans are in danger?" Steve asked her, trying to pacify the situation.

"They stole them off the street!" Aspen said angrily. "They're not concerned about the well being of the Inhumans. They're just making sure civilians are safe without even determining if there's a threat."

"And what about that kid with the fire abilities?" Rhodey asked. "From what I heard, he almost killed your mom. The ATCU is making sure things like that don't happen."

"Not every Inhuman is like Julian. Besides, he was experimented on. He was unstable. And you know who experimented on him? Treated him less than human? Regular people with out powers. The Inhumans aren't the source of the problem."

"What do the rest of you think?" Steve asked. He understood both sides. They couldn't just break into a government facility when they had no evidence of wrongdoing. Not when they currently had such a tenuous relationship with the government and the world. He knew they couldn't assume all Inhumans were like Julian but they also couldn't assume they were all harmless. It was easy to lose control when you suddenly found yourself able to do things you couldn't explain. The Inhumans needed help and support. But was the ATCU giving them that support or keeping them prisoners?

"We need to know if the Inhumans are safe," Wanda spoke up first. "I don't trust organizations that hide in the shadows. They usually have something to hide."

"I think I've seen enough corruption not to trust an organization that hasn't made their motives clear," Natasha said. "People feel the need to control what they don't understand."

"I don't think hunting the Inhumans down like animals gets the ATCU any brownie points," Sam said. "After Hydra infiltrated SHIELD, I don't think we should just assume the ATCU is impregnable."

They all turned to Vision. "People instinctually fear what they do not understand," he said. "Inhumans who haven't yet learned how to control their powers do pose a potential threat to themselves and to humans. I cannot say whether this organization does mean to help them but there is a great chance of chaos if no measures are taken to keep both humans and Inhumans safe."

"So do you think they should be locked up?" Aspen questioned him.

"We do not know enough variables to answer that."

"So we need to find out if the ATCU is really helping them or not. That brings us back to where we started," Wanda said, sounding frustrated.

"Can you call in a few favors and learn anything more?" Steve asked Rhodey.

"I'm not even supposed to be telling anyone anything. Not even Tony knows about this."

"Why?" Aspen asked. "Why keep it so hush hush? We're better equipped to help Inhumans. Amber's team _was_ helping before her people started getting snatched off the streets."

Rhodey took a deep breath as if he was about to deliver bad news. He folded his hands on the table. "After Sokovia, people aren't sure if the Avengers _are_ best equipped to help."

"And what do you think?" There was a tense silence. Steve could see that Rhodey was getting frustrated, but not as frustrated as Aspen. He knew there was no winning a battle of wills against Aspen.

"I think nothing is going to satisfy you short of seeing for yourself what the ATCU's doing with the Inhumans," he said finally. "I'm just not going to be with you. But I'm not stupid enough to try to stop you."

"Thank you. If it turns out they are all above board then I'll consider that not every government entity is corrupt. But if they're hurting the Inhumans, then we shut them down."

"You can't just shut down a group the President himself helped form. This is exactly why people are talking about the Avengers needing to be controlled," Rhodey said, sounding exasperated. "We don't have the authority to just shut them down. You can't decide something shouldn't exist just because you don't agree with it." Aspen was silent. Rhodey stood. "I can't stop you but I also don't have to be a part of it."

He left and, for once, Aspen didn't get the last word.

"He has a point," Natasha said.

"If we see something wrong, we can't ignore it," Steve said. "But we don't have the authority to take them down, he's right. We need to understand their purpose before we decide what to do next."

"That's never stopped us before!" Aspen spoke up. Steve could see hurt in her eyes. She thought he was taking Rhodey's side over hers.

"I'm just saying we need to be careful. We've tried it our way before and things haven't gone so well. Maybe this time we need to go in slowly, figure out if there is a threat first. I want you to head this mission. You're passionate about it, and I trust you to find out the truth. Take Wanda with you. You can team up with Amber and her Inhuman team. We'll be here for backup, but be need to go into this carefully. I don't think it's a good idea for the Avengers to be public about this."

Aspen nodded. Steve wasn't sure if she was agreeing or accepting his words. He knew this discussion was far from over.

"I'm going to wait for Amber's call," was all Aspen said as she got up from the table and left the room.

"I'll talk to her," Wanda said.

"I know why she's so passionate about this," Steve said. "But if we go rushing in with no hard proof that anything is going wrong…"

"It makes it look like we think we can do anything," Wanda finished his thought. "I understand."

"I know Aspen does too even if she doesn't want to. I just don't want her doing anything rash."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Wanda promised before following after Aspen.

Steve let out a deep breath. He was still used to the dynamic of the old team. His new team hadn't had the chance to really work together. There'd always been differing opinions – he and Tony had rarely seen eye to eye – but they'd worked together well as a team to do what was right. What was right wasn't always so black and white though and not everyone always agreed on what the right thing to do was. He didn't ever want to make a decision his team couldn't back but there was a bigger picture than always agreeing.

"I'm not saying that Inhumans are a treat by nature but I think we need to consider that some of them shouldn't be on the streets," Natasha said softly.

"Where do we draw the line?" Sam asked. "Everyone is potentially dangerous."

"Not everyone can create fire or transform into a monster," Natasha countered.

"There's always someone who uses power for ill, but there's a lot of potential to do good too like what Amber and her team are doing," Steve said. "These Inhumans haven't been given the chance to find out where they stand but getting taken off the streets and held in some facility isn't really a good start."

"It breeds resentment," Natasha agreed. "Makes them feel like it's them against the world."

"It makes them feel different and it makes the world see them as different," Sam put in.

"The world might not be ready for Inhumans but it doesn't have a choice," Vision said. "It must learn how to adapt or we can never hope to live in peace."

"I don't know. Aliens invaded our world three years ago and people are still refusing to adapt," Natasha said. "It's a hard place to live when you're different."

"I guess that's how we all ended up together," Sam said. "A bunch of misfits."

Steve knew he meant it as a joke, but in a very real way it rang very true. They'd always been different. But up until lately, they'd always been accepted. Now there was a new group of people with powers and suddenly there were new division lines. He knew they were a long way off from Inhumans and humans living peaceably together but there didn't need to be violence or persecution along the road to that peace. "Just keep me updated," he told them. "I'm going to go for a run to clear my head."

"I'd ask if you wanted company, but the only way we'd have a conversation would be every time you lap me," Sam said.

…

Wanda found Aspen pacing the training room, phone in hand. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor," she told her.

"I'm just frustrated," Aspen said. "I don't like to be told I can't go help people."

"Technically he was just saying _he_ wasn't going to help, not that _you_ couldn't."

"You know what bothers me the most?" Aspen asked. "It's that he's right. Before I joined the Avengers, I would never have just thought I had the authority to shut down a government organization. Especially one set up by the President. With Hydra it's always seemed different like it was our divine purpose to exterminate them. But when I joined the Avengers, when we became a team…suddenly it seemed like we could do anything. Now I'm looking at it from the outside thinking, who gave us that right? I never used to worry as long as we were helping people and taking down threats, but threats aren't always so obvious anymore. Sometimes two groups of people can both be trying to help someone but have totally different ideas of how to go about doing that. I guess…I guess I just don't know where we stand anymore. I never want to feel like I can't help someone but people are calling us out on things, holding us accountable. The world is changing."

"I guess we change with it, but we never give up our mission to help people."

Aspen's phone buzzed in her hand, startling her. "Hello?" she answered without even looking at the caller ID.

"We have the location," Amber said without preamble. "It's a facility in Vermont. They're keeping the Inhumans they kidnapped there. Is your team in?"

"Two of us are," Aspen said. "Some members weren't convinced it was a good idea to break into the ATCU facility."

"What about breaking Inhumans out?" Amber asked. "Did they go for that idea?"

Aspen knew Amber was testing her, testing her team. "None of us want to see innocent Inhumans get hurt," she said. "We all agree about that."

"Good. Well, whenever you're ready, I'll send Lily to pick you up. Can you send me a picture of where you are? She has to see a place to be able to transport there."

"How's she going to get us to Vermont?" Aspen asked.

"Google maps. We can get close enough. See you soon."

Aspen clicked a picture of the room and sent it on to Amber, explaining what was happening to Wanda. "Aren't we going to tell the others we're going?" she asked.

"Steve already assigned us this mission. It's clear no one else is coming," she said trying not to sound overly resentful.

"You're mad at him for not choosing your side," Wanda guessed.

Aspen sighed deeply. "I know it's childish. Just because we're married now doesn't mean he always needs to pick my side. I just know I'm right on this."

"He's the leader of the team now. He can't always pick sides. He has to be the diplomat."

"You're right." Aspen's shoulders dropped. "I guess I'm still getting used to the new team. I'm used to Tony just rushing around doing whatever he wants and even though I yelled at him most of the time, we got stuff done and no one really complained about it. Well, up until his crazed robot destroyed nearly an entire city."

Her thoughts were interrupted when Lily transported into the room. Wanda jumped a little. She'd never seen Lily's ability before. "Wanda, this is Lily. Lily, this is Wanda," Aspen introduced.

"Hi." Lily had always been nice to Aspen even when the Inhumans were treating her like an outsider. "Ready to go? Need anything?"

"Just ourselves, I guess," Aspen said. "How many on your team?"

"Amber and Corbin. We thought it best to keep our group small. Are you ready?" she asked, holding out her hands. "All you need to do is hold onto me and you'll be transported too." Aspen took one of Lily's outstretched hands and Wanda took the other. "You might feel like you're going down in an elevator," Lily warned. Aspen shut her eyes as an odd sensation overtook her. It was like a twisting in her stomach, but the sensation stopped before Aspen could feel sick. When she opened her eyes again she was standing before Amber and Corbin in the abandoned factory the Inhumans used as a base.

"Good to see you," Amber said, honoring Aspen with a rare smile.

"You as well. This is Wanda. She's one of our newest recruits. She has some abilities similar to an Inhuman. She can produce and control energy."

"Handy. Corbin manipulates metal and I can create and control electricity," Amber said. "And I guess you've seen what Lily can do. Shall we?"

They all gathered around Lily, each of them laying a hand on her shoulders and hands. "This might feel a little more uncomfortable," she warned before transporting them. It was more uncomfortable. The journey was a lot longer, and Aspen counted thirty seconds before they stopped moving. She opened her eyes and found herself standing in an alley just off of a busy street.

"Welcome to Vermont," Amber said.

Their plan was to find the building and transport in. Lily was able to transport into buildings she'd never been in before if she was standing right outside. Her ability fascinated Aspen – how helpful would it be to transport almost anywhere like that? She remembered Prince Baran's words about adapting. Was it possible for her to gain abilities like the Inhumans? She kept finding new powers every time she tried to evolve, but there was always the underlying fear of evolving too much.

"Adler is one of our new recruits. He can track anyone anywhere as long as he has something of theirs. Kyler, Rose, and Adam were the ones taken. None of them are dangerous. They don't belong here."

"What about the others?" Aspen asked.

"They have no right to imprison us," Amber said. "Unless this place is a five star resort and spa for Inhumans, we're getting them all out."

"And if some of them are unstable?" Corbin asked. "I mean, I'm all for breaking everyone out but some of them might be in here for a reason."

Amber turned her eyes on Corbin, and Aspen was glad she was not on the receiving end of that glare. "Everyone can learn to control their powers, but these people aren't going to teach them. They're going to keep them locked up until they decide they're not worth keeping alive."

"I did learn a little bit more about the ATCU," Aspen said. She shared the information Rhodey had given them, but Amber looked unconvinced.

"People like that don't help people like us," she said flatly.

"Let's see what we're dealing with before we make any big decisions," Aspen suggested. Maybe Rhodey had been right about them assuming the worst, but she wasn't about to tell Amber that. They left the alley, heading out across the sidewalk to the busy intersection.

"We're heading north," Amber said. "Their front is an abandoned section of stores a few blocks from here. We can expect maximum security, but I don't think that's going to be an issue."

As they headed toward the facility, Aspen looked around at her companions and realized just how much power they held together. Amber could knock out an electrical grid if she wanted to. Lily could teleport them in and out of nearly anywhere. Corbin could manipulate metal and therefore just about anything in this city. Wanda's energy was powerful and growing stronger every day and Aspen was stronger than even she knew. She understood why people were taking measures against people like them. Even if she didn't agree with it, she understood. On the wrong side of the law, they could cause catastrophic damage.

The storefront was nondescript. They stood across the street while Lily observed the building. "What can you tell?" Wanda asked Aspen. Aspen took a deep breath and blocked out the traffic and the noise until all she could hear was her own breathing. Then she focused.

"High-tech security system. If we transport in, it shouldn't be a problem, but Amber can shut it down too. There are cameras in every room. We need to take care of those. Fifteen people in the building – humans. Five of them are scientists and ten of them are guards. There are…ten Inhumans. I can sense their power, but it's muted, almost like it's in stasis. They're keeping them in the sublevel. Labs are down there too. There's something off though…their emotions…" She concentrated harder, focusing on the emotions coming off of the people in the building. "They're afraid of something," she said. "Or someone."

"The Inhumans?" Lily asked.

"I don't think so." Aspen tried to reach out further, expand her power, do _something_ more but part of her problem was she didn't have a large enough imagination. Part of using her whole brain (or a larger portion of it) was that she couldn't even imagine what she could do. That limited her. "Damnit. I don't know what's off."

"Well, we'll find out one way or another," Amber said. Her tawny eyes were fixated on the building, and Aspen knew it didn't matter what was in there or what was off. Amber was getting her team back.

"If we transport into the holding block we can avoid detection indefinitely," Aspen instructed. "We just need to move the cameras so they aren't on us. The guards will notice if Amber fries them, but there aren't any guards in the room. I want to find out just what it is they're doing in the labs though."

"You and Wanda can handle that. My team will get the Inhumans out," Amber said.

"Before you go breaking them out, we should find out what's been done to them," Aspen told her. Amber turned her gaze on Aspen, and Aspen could tell there was going to be conflict if they both tried to lead. "We don't want to hurt them," she clarified. "We don't know what's been done to them if anything."

"Fine. We investigate the containment cells and once you've deemed it safe, we get them out. I'm not concerned with what they're doing in the labs. I just want my people out. Lily will start transporting right away."

"Fine. Wanda and I can figure out the rest and meet you back there. Just be careful," Aspen warned. "This place is designed to keep Inhumans and none of us want to end up in one of those containment units."

"Believe me, I don't plan on anyone else getting caught by these people," Amber said. "We've wasted enough time. Lily, take us in."

Lily held out her hands and everyone held onto her. "Here goes," she said, sounding nervous. The world spun out of focus, and Aspen found her mind reeling after her third time transporting. When the world stopped spinning, she opened her eyes. No alarms blared, no one started shouting. They were in.


	43. Suspension

**40 – Suspension – July 21, 2015**

When the world came into focus again, they found themselves standing in a dimly lit room surrounded by ten giant containment units. Wanda flicked a finger and all the cameras in the room turned slowly away from them. They turned their attention to the containment units. Not all of them were the same. Some of them were filled with some sort of gel with hoses and tubes running into them. The people within were suspended there as if in some sort of comatose state. The others were in cells that looked as if they'd been made to withstand a nuclear war. They were also built to dampen powers. Aspen could feel a kind of void surrounding them, muting the Inhumans' powers.

Aspen heard Lily gasp as she caught sight of one of the stasis containers. "What have they done to them?" she whispered.

"They're keeping them preserved," Aspen told her. "Alive but unconscious. Do you see your friends?"

It was a big room made up of aisles of the containment units. Not all of them were full, and it didn't take Amber, Lily, and Corbin long to find their friends. Aspen fell behind, looking around at the vacant units. "They're planning on filling them," she told Wanda.

"I don't like what I see," Wanda said with a shudder. "This is a prison not a sanctuary."

"Agreed," Aspen said. "I get how some Inhumans are unstable, but this isn't looking out for them. It's treating them as a lesser being."

They joined the others and watched as Corbin started to manipulate the metal on the containment unit. "It's not working," he said with a grunt.

"That's because they're built to withstand Inhuman abilities," Aspen said. "Fry the electrics first."

Amber put a hand to the panel on the unit and sparks erupted. The lights went out and it spluttered to a dead silence. Corbin tried again and this time the metal bent to his will. A girl with auburn hair and brown eyes stepped out. "You came for us," she said, sounding surprised. "I thought no one would come."

"Of course we came," Lily told her. "We stick together. We're going to get Kyler and Adam out too."

"Aren't you supposed to be infiltrating their labs?" Amber asked, turning to Aspen.

"Right. Just…don't release anyone else until we get back. If they have been experimenting then they could be unstable. See what your friends know." Aspen nodded to Wanda and they headed out into the hallway beyond the containment cells. Wanda shifted the cameras as they passed, and Aspen manipulated the light around them so that they would be all but invisible to the human eye.

The labs lay behind glass doors. Aspen skimmed the scientists' consciences for anything helpful. One thing was immediately clear to her. They were not trying to find a cure. Another thing she realized was that they didn't know who they were working for. They _thought_ it was the ATCU, but they had suspicions. That was what had felt off before. Their own suspicion mixed with a fear – they had orders to complete their work and they were afraid of what would happen if they didn't. Out of the five scientists, two of them felt none of this fear. They had a deeper purpose. They knew exactly what they were trying to achieve. So far none of their experiments had worked. Two of the Inhumans had died after their dissection. Aspen tried not to feel sick. They'd taken them apart to see how they worked as if their was a special gland that gave them their abilities. There were more though – more Inhumans to experiment on. They were not in short supply. Aspen's vision went red the deeper she dug into the scientists' minds. She tugged and all five collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"What did you do?" Wanda asked. She followed Aspen as she pushed through the doors into the lab.

"They'll be out for awhile," Aspen told her, kicking aside an arm. She scanned the research on the computer screens, taking in the information. It all made sense to her even though she hadn't studied anything like it before. "They're not trying to cure the Inhumans," she told Wanda. "They're trying to replicate the Terrigin. They're trying to create more Inhumans."

"Why?"

"There's only one reason I can think of," Aspen said, scanning the room. "They want to create chaos. If they were trying to help them then they wouldn't be trying to spread the outbreak. But they've been experimenting on Inhumans so they clearly don't value their lives. The only thing I can think of is destruction."

"Is this the work of the ATCU or something else?"

"Something else," Aspen said. She stiffened. "Two guards are coming. East hall." She pulled Wanda over to the wall beside the door.

"What are we doing?"

"Interrogating." Aspen waited until the guards had entered the room before waving her hand and sending them flying across the room. One of them struck a table and fell to the floor, unconscious. The other Aspen gripped tightly, pushing him up against the wall without leaving her spot by the door. She moved forward to face him. He glared down at her, grappling at his throat.

"Now then," she said, "are you going to tell me who you're working for or am I going to have to take a peek inside your head?"

He choked and she loosened her grip on his throat. "Screw you," he spat out at her.

"The hard way then. I've got to warn you, it's not every pleasant." She could tell he had no intention of giving her any information. _I thought you didn't do this anymore_ , a little voice in the back of her head said. _This is different,_ she argued back. _He's hurt Inhumans. Maybe not him personally but this whole operation is corrupt_. Instead of arguing with herself over morals, Aspen dove into his mind, pushing past the anger and hatred. Those emotions didn't fade though. They only grew stronger the deeper she reached. The disappointing son, the secluded adult all led to one place that had allowed this man to reach any sort of potential. Aspen pulled out of his head before his thoughts could poison hers.

"Hydra," she spat. "He's working for Hydra."

"You're one of them! You belong in one of those cells," he shouted at her. His fingers reached for his walkie-talkie, but Aspen tightened her grip on him.

"Maybe you'd like to see how it is to be contained," she said. She thrust him down from the wall. "You people sicken me. Come on," she said to Wanda.

"What are we going to do with them?" she asked, sounding a little frightened. Aspen realized that Wanda was frightened of what Aspen was going to do. She'd never seen Aspen when she was so close to losing control. She forced herself to rein in her anger.

"Help me move these people. We're going to fill up the cells."

…

When Aspen and Wanda had finally wrested the scientists and two guards into the cells, Lily had successfully transported her team out. Amber and Corbin remained. "What did you find?" Amber asked, her eyes flitting to the remaining people in the containment cells.

"They're not trying to find a cure," Aspen told her. "They're trying to spread the Terrigin outbreak, trying to recreate the Terrigin and find new ways of releasing it."

"Why would they do that?" Amber asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well they're working for Hydra, so I suppose it could be any number of reasons. My guess is spreading chaos. It's what they do best."

"Then the ATCU is corrupt like we thought." Amber turned to look at one of the Inhumans still in the containment unit.

"It's not that simple," Aspen said.

"Seems pretty simple to me."

"Only two of the scientists even knew they were working for Hydra. The others were confused about who was giving the orders. I don't think Hydra was behind the ATCU. From what I could read in their minds, this facility wasn't even on the ATCU or government's radar."

"So this is where they do all the nasty experiments?" Amber asked, running a finger along the control panel on one of the containment units. "Without the eyes of the government on them."

"If Hydra has infiltrated the ATCU then they'd have to be a little quieter about it at other facilities. Hydra just found a convenient front to hide behind."

"So what have they been doing to these Inhumans?" Lily asked. "Have they hurt them?"

Aspen looked at the ones in the stasis gel, suspended there with wires and tubes keeping them alive. "They've been experimenting on them to see how they work," she said.

"How they _work?_ How _we_ work?" Amber sounded outraged.

"I know, I know. We've got to get the Inhumans out – all of them. They're not safe here and the world isn't any safer with them here too."

A shout from the hallway had them all turning. "The other guards," Wanda said.

"We'll keep them occupied, you get the Inhumans out," Aspen instructed Amber. "Take them to your warehouse for now. We can assess if they're a threat later."

"They're not going to be a threat," Amber ground out, but Aspen was already turning away.

"There are eight guards remaining," she told Wanda. "Five of them are heading straight toward us. Three of them are waiting at the entrances to the facility in case we try to escape."

"Clearly they don't know who they're dealing with." Red energy flared at Wanda's fingertips. She looked as ready for a fight as Aspen felt. She felt her own anger boiling but didn't try to rein it in. Not yet. She knew she should. When she was this angry her powers could get out of control, _she_ could get out of control, but she was going to make sure these Inhumans escaped. The first two guards collapsed before they could even reach the room. Wanda took out the next two, flinging them against the ceiling. The last guard standing shouted something into his walkie-talkie before retreating back the way he'd come.

"How's the rescue coming along?" Aspen called to Amber and the others.

"Four more in the containment units, four more in stasis," she replied. "We're going as quickly as we can."

"The other guards are going to be here any minute," Aspen told Wanda. "I know we can handle them but we also need to be on guard. This place was created to keep Inhumans sedated and powerless. It wouldn't be smart to underestimate them."

Wanda nodded, eyes glowing slightly red. Behind them Corbin helped pull an Inhuman from one of the units. There were three waiting to be transported. The pounding of shoes somewhere beyond the room alerted Aspen to the arrival of the other guards. She could sense their desperation. If the Inhumans all escaped then the guards were as good as dead. Hydra didn't forgive mistakes. Aspen wasn't planning on letting Hydra find them first though.

"Keep working," she said as Amber fried the rest of the containment units and Corbin started to melt down the metal. "Wanda and I will take care of the other guards. Let's try to keep them away from here," she told Wanda, moving toward the hallway. They headed back toward the lab. Aspen could sense the guards somewhere beyond there, their heart rates increased, pounding in either fear or anticipation. They reentered the lab, and Aspen scanned the monitors to see if she could find anything else useful. There was a set of screens on the wall that seemed to be monitoring some sort of vitals. With a jolt, Aspen realized it was the Inhumans in the suspension tanks.

"Wait…" She ran a finger over the screens. Her eyes widened. "We've got to warn Amber and the others!" she said. "If they break the Inhumans out of the suspension tanks, they'll die. Right now those tanks are the only things keeping them alive. We need to –" She broke off as the guards reached the lab. Wanda sent them flying backwards, knocking into each other. "Go warn Amber. I'll hold them off," Aspen said. "There's a process that will wake them up. I can start it from here, but you need to stop them."

"Okay." Wanda ran off, and Aspen turned back to the screens. The guards were getting back to their feet though, and Aspen swiped her hand to send their guns flying across the room. There were only three, and she could knock them all out at once. She vaguely wondered where the other guard had gone. One lunged at her, and she sidestepped. He hit a table, knocking tools and beakers everywhere. Glass shattered and something set off a small explosion. Aspen kicked out at him, sending him back to the floor as he tried to get up. She sent a table flying at the other guards and ran over to the screens, tapping and sliding her fingers to begin the awakening process. Just as her fingers stretched out to release the final Inhuman, hands grasped her from behind. She kicked out her legs, using the momentum from the wall to push back into the guard. He grunted as he tipped backwards, and they fell to the floor together. Aspen elbowed his nose and heard a satisfying crunch. His grip loosened and she rolled to her feet. She dashed over to press the final button, and then turned to face the guards in earnest. One of them had a scalpel he'd grabbed from the table. Aspen focused on the metal and it burned not in his hand. She could sense their frustration. They couldn't beat her with her abilities. But maybe…

Aspen turned around, seeking out the man she'd thought was unconscious. He was holding a vile of some sort of pale blue liquid. He met her eyes and smirked before shattering it on the floor. A fog consumed the room, and Aspen started coughing. The effect was almost instantaneous. She could no longer sense each heart beating in the room, she could no longer feel their fear or read their minds. Everything was dampened until she felt just as human as them.

"What is this?" she asked when the mist cleared. "What did you do?"

"It's just a little something our scientists have been working on," the guard who had shattered the vial said, getting to his feet. "It mutes powers. Don't worry, you'll get them back but not for a few hours. Until then you're helpless."

"Helpless is not a word I'd ever use to describe myself," Aspen said. "You don't think I can fight without my powers?"

There was hesitation on his face, doubt. He didn't know who Aspen was. He probably thought she was just an Inhuman. She caught her tongue before telling him she was an Avenger.

She struck out at him before he could prepare himself, punching him on the jaw and twirling her body in a kick that sent him flying backwards into the equipment. She caught another guard's fist before it could connect with her head and twisted, using the momentum to fling her body around. She gripped him hard around the neck until he started to choke. The third guard tried to pull her off, but she smashed her elbow backwards again, and he screamed in pain, holding his already broken nose. The guard beneath her lost consciousness, and Aspen rolled off of him, flinging herself at the first guard as he recovered from the wreckage of the equipment. She kicked his feet out from under him and punched him hard in the head. He didn't get up again. The third man was bleeding heavily now, but he charged Aspen once more. She ducked aside and grabbed the closest object on the table – a metal tray – and brought it down on his head. He stumbled forward and she hit him again. This time he slouched to the floor and remained there. Aspen ran back to the containment room. Corbin and Amber were pulling Inhumans from the stasis tanks. They were still unconscious, but they seemed to be breathing properly.

"There you are," Amber said, eyes flitting up to Aspen. "What took you so long?"

"They had this weapon," Aspen told them. "It subdued my powers." Wanda looked frightened, but Amber gave Aspen a hard look.

"They can take away our powers?"

"Just subdue them. He said it should only last a few hours." She hoped. She felt off balance without her powers.

"Then let's hope we don't need your powers before then," Amber said.

"I can fight without them."

"That's not what I meant." Amber didn't elaborate. There were four more Inhumans that needed to be transported. Lily grasped two of their hands, still sticky from the gel they'd been kept in. "They aren't awake yet, but the tanks drained and opened on their own, so we figured it was safe to take them out." She disappeared, taking the two Inhumans with her.

"Should be. They might take awhile to wake up. Who knows how long they've been in there." Aspen looked over her shoulder. The guards could wake up at any minute. She couldn't hear that far anymore or sense their pulse or body heat. She felt blind.

"Do they have more of that stuff?" Amber asked, seeing Aspen's worry.

"I don't know." If they released it here while Lily was in the room then they'd be stranded.

Lily appeared again and grasped the last two Inhuman's hands. She disappeared again, looking weak from the constant transportation. "After we transport back, I'm going to call this in," Aspen said. "The government can clean up this mess." Maybe this hadn't been the ATCU, but Aspen hoped it would be enough to wake some people up to the truth. Inhumans were being hunted down and not so they could get help.

Without warning the lights went out and they were in sudden and absolute darkness. There was a low rumbling from somewhere on the other end of the room and then the sound of a door being kicked in down the hall. "What's happening?" Corbin asked.

"We have company." Aspen bit back her frustration. She had no way of telling how many people had entered the building or what their intentions were. "Be ready for Lily."

There was another rumble from the back of the room and something started beating against the glass of the containment cell. There was the sound of shattering glass and then screeching metal as something very large began to force its way out of the containment cell. Aspen could see outlines now as a red emergency light blinked to life above them.

"What was that?" Wanda whispered.

"Something else is out there," Aspen said. "I thought you'd gotten everyone."

"Clearly we missed something," Amber said. "There was a part of the room that was blocked off. We assumed nothing was back there. Storage or something."

"Or something."

Aspen turned her eyes to the hallway as slender lights appeared. She pulled Wanda back between two of the cells, snagging Amber's sleeve. "Get back," she whispered. The four of them pressed back as the lights grew closer. "Sniper rifles," Aspen told them. "Cor–"

Lily appeared in the room right as the lights illuminated the floor where she was standing. "Lily get down!" she shouted as Corbin swore and reached out to melt down the guns. Lily disappeared as a dozen rifles were fired. A second later the guns were melting and useless and the men holding them jumped back in surprise.

"Inhumans," one of them said, voice muffled. Aspen could see within the dim red-washed light that they were wearing masks.

"Not friendly," she said, stating the obvious. She hoped Lily had gotten clear in time.

Before the men could realize where they were, something scraped overhead and a tremendous roar filled the air, vibrating the floor and shattering any remaining glass in the containment cells. Wanda threw out a shield around them to block the shards of glass.

"We've heard that sound before," she said, turning to Aspen.

"I think we found the prince," Aspen said. But that didn't make sense because the ATCU had definitely been the ones in Madripoor. Suspicions clouded her head. How had the prince ended up here?

The newcomers turned their attention on the great dragon-like beast that now settled atop the containment units. "How is that possible?" Corbin asked. "That's a _dragon_."

"He was exposed to Terrigin. He's the one who released it – well in Madripoor. It transformed him. I'm not sure there's any limits to what sort of ability or power Inhumans gain. I just know that we need to get out of here soon. Unless you wanted to try to save him too," she threw at Amber.

"He wouldn't fit in the warehouse," Amber said stiffly.

"Where's Lily?" Corbin muttered. "She could be hurt. She could be lying dead somewhere riddled with bullets."

"Or she could be right here," a soft voice said from behind them. Corbin whirled around and threw his arms around Lily.

"You're okay."

"I disappeared in enough time," she said. "We need to go. _Now_."

As they spoke, one of the masked men turned and saw them. The others were now opening fire on the dragon, pulling out handguns Corbin hadn't melted. Aspen stared at the mask, feeling a sense of foreboding. It was white, but made to look like an animal. A dog? A black tattoo marked his neck. It was similarly designed. He lifted a gun he'd had behind his back and took aim.

"Now!" Aspen turned her back on him, grabbing onto Lily's shoulder. She heard the shot and then they were tumbling through nothingness.


	44. The Dragon Prince

**41 – The Dragon Prince – July 21, 2015**

They landed hard in the Inhuman warehouse, and Aspen stumbled.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked. Lily and Corbin had fallen to the floor. Lily was white pale except for the red that was now issuing from her shoulder. "Lily?"

"It's okay," she said softly. "It's not going to kill me." Then she passed out.

"We pushed her to her limit!" Corbin said, rounding on Amber.

"We need to get the bullet out," Aspen said, trying to keep a clear head even though her mind was reeling from everything they'd been through today. "We need to call this in." She turned to Wanda. "Call Steve and tell him what happened. He can contact Rhodey. We need people to see what was happening there. If it was the ATCU, then they need to be shut down by the right people. If not then they need to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Wanda nodded, pulling out her phone and going somewhere quieter to make the call. Corbin and Amber were shouting at each other, and Aspen felt a headache coming on. A couple of Inhumans she hadn't met ran over to help her. "I can heal her," one of them said. "But we need to get the bullet out first."

"Corbin!" Aspen shouted. "Get over here." He cut off mid-word and ran over, leaving Amber to deal with the newly arrived Inhumans. "Get the bullet out," Aspen told him.

He nodded, putting a hand over Lily's shoulder and concentrating. A second later he had a bloody bullet sitting on his palm. The Inhuman healer set to work, and Aspen watched as the skin began to knit itself back together.

"That's a handy power," she said. The girl nodded and when the job was finished, she looked as pale as Lily had.

"It's draining," she explained. "She'll be okay. She's just exhausted."

"I'll take her to her room," Corbin said, pulling Lily into his arms.

Aspen turned to face the rescued Inhumans. The three who had already been a part of the team were helping the others up, reassuring them. The four who had been in the suspension tanks were still unconscious, but a couple of girls came over with damp wash cloths and began to clean off the gel that still clung to their skin. They were wrapped in blankets and carried between a couple of boys into an adjoining room.

"They're safe now," Amber said. "We can take it from here."

"I'm staying," Aspen told her firmly. "At least let me talk to the Inhumans who are awake." There were three besides the ones who'd already been rescued by Amber's team. They looked a little lost, cautious despite being among people like them. "I'm going to try my hardest to get the other facilities investigated even if this one was only using the ATCU as a front. We're not going to let people treat Inhumans like that."

"Thank you," Amber said after a pause. "We couldn't have done that without you. Or Wanda."

"I think you would have managed somehow," Aspen said with a smile.

"I hope your powers return shortly. But you handled yourself well without them."

"That sounded like a compliment," Aspen said. "Can we call each other friends yet?"

"Don't push it." But Aspen caught the smile as Amber turned away. Aspen walked over to the Inhumans. They looked up and one of them gaped a little at Aspen.

"You know who I am?" she asked him. He nodded, swallowing hard. "Good. Then you know I'm here to help you."

…

Steve was just finishing up his run when Wanda called. "Hey, Wanda. Where are you?" he asked, slowing to a walk.

"Back at the Inhuman's base," she told him. He could hear traffic in the background and the tug of the wind. "We found the missing Inhumans and some others," she told him.

"Wait, you've already been to the facility?" He hadn't been gone for more than an hour.

"We just got back. Lily can transport us in less than a minute. But Steve, it wasn't an ATCU facility. They were hiding behind that front though I'm pretty sure the ATCU had no idea they existed. They were experimenting on Inhumans, trying to find a way to spread the outbreak. They were working for Hydra."

"Are you sure?" Of course Hydra would be behind the rogue facility. In all honesty, that didn't surprise Steve. Hydra never seemed to stop existing no matter how hard they worked to eradicate it.

"Aspen read their minds. Only a few knew who they were really working for though. We can't assume Hydra isn't pulling strings elsewhere. This could have just been a place where they carried out their illegal experiments." The thought was unsettling, but Steve's attention snagged on her first words. Aspen was reading minds again. She'd sworn never to dig into someone's mind again, but it wasn't the first time she'd broken that promise to herself.

"So what happened?" he asked. "You got the Inhumans out?" Was Wanda calling instead of Aspen because Aspen was upset with him about earlier? Upset that he hadn't jumped to her defense and taken her side?

"Aspen fought off the guards but then these men in masks broke in. It was almost as if someone had called them in. They were going to shoot us but it turns out the prince of Madripoor was there too in his Inhuman form." Aspen had told Steve of the prince's unexpected transformation. It didn't seem possible for a person to turn into something like that but he kept reminding himself that they were called _In_ humans for a reason.

"He kind of saved our lives. We got everyone out. Aspen was hoping you could call Rhodey so he could have the right people come to take charge of the facility."

"Is there anything left after the prince got loose?"

"We didn't stick around to find out. Make sure no one kills him. I know he doesn't give the Inhumans a good name, but he was dangerous long before he was exposed to the Terrigin."

"This should be enough to get the ATCU investigated. Are you and Aspen coming back?"

"She's looking into the Inhumans to make sure they're stable," Wanda told him. "We'll need a ride home though. Lily's not going anywhere any time soon."

"Just let me know when. And be careful. We still don't know what those Inhumans can do. They're probably scared right now after all they've been through."

"We'll be careful. Let us know what's going on with the facility." She gave him the location before hanging up.

Steve dialed Rhodey, hoping he'd be willing to help now. Aspen hadn't taken down the facility. She'd left that to the proper authorities, and Steve knew that had to take some self-restraint. If it really was Hydra then Steve had no qualms about taking it down, but the ties with the ATCU were murky.

"Hey," he said when Rhodey answered. "How soon can you get some men to Vermont?" He repeated what Wanda had told him.

"This doesn't prove the ATCU was behind any of this," Rhodey told him.

"We can go back and forth on this but right now we need a team there," Steve said. "I'm holding back, letting the government take the lead on this one. I want to prove that the Avengers are willing to work with them. We're not just a rogue team that does whatever we want."

"That's not what everyone thinks. Just some. Anyway, I'll see what I can do. I'll call you back and let you know."

Steve tried not to let his impatience get the better of him. His instincts told him to get a team over there as soon as possible. There was still a threat present and the base could be swept clean before they could get there. Hydra was good at wiping away its trail. His team was trained to fight threats like Hydra, but the world was changing, and Steve had a feeling this was only the beginning of their challenge.

It didn't take long for Rhodey to get back to him, and Steve tried not to sound too anxious when he answered. "They're not happy the Avengers infiltrated the base, but they've also denied all knowledge of its existence. You can come, but a team of ATCU agents is taking charge."

"If we hadn't done anything then Hydra would still be experimenting on innocent Inhumans," Steve said.

"I know. Look, I'm on your side on this, Steve," Rhodey assured him. "They're just threatened by the Avengers and they're trying to contain a situation with a group of people they don't understand. They're trying to do their job."

"They do realize there's still an Inhuman in the building, right? He needs to be neutralized, not harmed."

"I'm not the one giving orders right now, Steve, and neither are you. But that's the idea. They're going to help him. Take a quinjet and meet me there."

After Steve hung up, he entered the facility and found Sam in the lounge watching a local news report. "Hey, Steve, we've got a situation in Vermont," he said, motioning to the screen.

Steve glanced at the TV. It showed the outside of a facility where smoke was issuing. The reporter was interviewing a civilian who claimed she'd heard loud rumbling from inside like a wild animal was loose. It had to be the facility Aspen, Wanda, and the Inhumans had infiltrated. He filled Sam in as quickly as he could and explained that he was headed there to meet Rhodey.

"They're already holding us back," Sam replied.

"Let's hope not. I'll be back soon. Wanda and Aspen are still in Brooklyn at the Inhuman base. They might need a ride home. If I'm still in Vermont will you get them?" he asked.

Sam nodded. "Of course. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"I'd better go alone this time. I need to prove we're not here to get in the government's way. We're here to help."

"You shouldn't have to prove anything to them. Don't let those government goons boss you around."

Steve smiled. "Maybe it's a good thing Aspen's still in Brooklyn. She'd have a thing or two to say to them."

"She might be able to tell what their motives are. Isn't that how she figured out Hydra was behind this place?"

Steve nodded. "I think it's probably best if she stays out of people's heads. She usually hates herself if she breaks her own rule. Sometimes she just loses control. She's close to this, and I'm afraid she might go too far if she's pushed…"

"Then we'll do it the old fashioned way," Sam said.

Steve changed into his suit, pushing Phoenix out of his helmet as the cat tried to help him. As he fastened the helmet, his eyes snagged on the A. Why did he feel more and more that the symbol meant something different to him than the rest of the world? He'd started out as a government experiment but now suddenly the government wanted to restrict him and his team. He supposed he should be grateful they were letting him in on this mission even if he felt it was more a matter of _them_ being lucky his team was there to handle situations like this. He didn't mean to put himself above others – he'd never do that – but some threats were more than normal people could handle. Hydra was one of those threats.

He pulled on his gloves and grabbed his shield. By quinjet the flight was short but Rhodey was already there when he arrived. He was suited up as War Machine and trying to get people to move back away from the scene. Reporters were swarming, and government officials worked to stave them off. Steve set down the jet on the street the police had cleared. People started chattering excitedly as he lowered the ramp and left the quinjet, and the press turned to see what they were talking about.

"Captain Rogers!"

"Can you answer some questions?"

"Is it true that the Inhuman threat is putting us all in danger?"

Steve ignored the questions, striding toward Rhodey. The police held the lines, encouraging people to back away from the building. Agents had the building surrounded, and a man in a suit was speaking to Rhodey. He turned to Steve as he approached.

"I'm Agent Weston. I'm with the Advanced Threat Containment Unit," he said, holding out a hand for Steve to shake. Steve took it, giving the man a penetrating look. He wished _he_ had Aspen's ability to sense a person's motives. He'd been fooled before. "I want to apologize for this mess. I can assure you that this facility is not one of ours. We've already started an investigation into our own facilities. If Hydra has wormed its way in, we'll find out."

Steve wanted to be assured but he didn't know this man, didn't trust him. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he nodded politely. "So you understand there's an Inhuman in there who needs help."

"Of course." Was it just him or did Agent Weston look nervous? "We've got a containment unit that can hold him. We've developed a weapon that – well, it's not really a weapon – but a _device_ that can neutralize an Inhuman without harming them. It just freezes their ability temporarily. We appreciate you coming to help oversee."

"I wasn't sure if I'd be welcome," Steve said cautiously.

Agent Weston chuckled nervously. "My superiors think the Avengers undermine them. We don't all share the same opinion but sometimes we little people have to make a stand too. We try to do our best even if we don't have superpowers. Sometimes you and your team don't give other people the opportunity to try to help. I think sometimes – a lot of times – we need someone stronger and more powerful to contain a threat. But in the meantime we do what we can."

"Understandable. We're not trying to step on anybody's toes. We just want to make the world a safer place and, as you said, sometimes we're the best equipped to handle a threat."

"Now that we have an understanding, can we get this situation under control?" Rhodey asked as the building shook behind them.

"Of course." Agent Weston motioned for his men. "My agents will be entering the building from all sides. You're welcome to follow and you have my permission to help wherever you see fit."

"So it wasn't your men earlier in the building?" Steve asked before following the agents in. Agent Weston gave him a questioning look. "Earlier, when some of my team members infiltrated the facility to rescue the Inhumans, they said there were men wearing masks. They shot at the Inhumans."

"Those weren't my men. I don't know what to say. I'll look into it."

Steve turned to follow Rhodey into the building, pulling his shield from his back and sliding it over his left arm. The hallways were dark, lit only by dim, red emergency lights. Signs of destruction lay everywhere – broken glass, bent metal, bodies. The floor was littered with bodies, each wearing white masks that looked something like a dog. They passed down a hall, and he could see a broken up lab to the right. To the left lay the containment cells, now completely shattered. A deep growl issued from the back of the room. The ATCU agents were ready, weapons aimed. Rhodey had his weapons ready on his War Machine suit though he held back.

"What exactly are we facing again?" he asked Steve.

"The Terrigin transformed him into something…not human. Aspen said he was something like a dragon now. I know that sounds crazy. The Terrigin awakens some sort of alien DNA inside Inhumans. I don't think there's any rhyme or reason for what ability comes out."

"That's messed up."

Another rumble issued from the back of the room. "Yeah, well, it couldn't be too easy."

"Hold the line," one of the ATCU agents said as the others started to look restless. "We fire to neutralize, not harm."

"Doesn't look like the Inhuman had the same compunctions," Rhodey said, nodding toward another body. The man was dressed in a white lab coat and stretched out from one of the containment units as if he'd been inside, perhaps hiding from the creature. A thin line of blood ran across his throat.

"He probably can't control it," Steve said. "Doesn't mean he can't learn to, but it'll be safer to have him locked up for now."

"Would Aspen agree?" There was a note of something in Rhodey's tone that Steve couldn't quite place. Frustration? He knew he and Aspen didn't always see eye to eye, but ultimately they were fighting for the same goal.

"She just wants to know that these people aren't hurting Inhumans."

"I don't think that's going to be the issue here," Rhodey replied as something enormous detached itself from the shadows. Containment units groaned under twelve inch claws. There was something still human in the eyes as they focused on the ATCU agents. It was disconcerting, and Steve wondered if the prince _was_ in control of the beast after all. Still, he couldn't mistake the gleaming in its eyes for anything other than bloodlust.

"Fire!" an agent yelled. There was a wave of sound as the agents fired their guns, and tranquilizer darts bounced harmlessly off the creature's skin.

"That's not good," Rhodey said as the creature let out an angry roar. It swiped its tail, catching two of the agents and sending them flying across the room. The others ducked, and Steve and Rhodey moved back to avoid the blow. "I'm going to distract it," Rhodey said.

"Be careful." Rhodey took off, flying around the creature's head before zooming off out of reach. "Do you have anything more powerful?" Steve asked one of the agents.

"These _are_ powerful," the agent replied, holding up his tranq gun. "We need to get closer but I don't see how that's possible."

"I can get closer."

The man pressed the gun into Steve's hand. "Be my guest." Steve replaced his shield on his back before assessing the situation.

The agents were still firing, running to and fro to avoid the tail and claws. The creature was focused on Rhodey though as he fired at its thick skin to keep its attention on him. Steve had to keep reminding himself that it was really an Inhuman. It looked more like some Asgardian beast escaped from a portal. He dodged its tail and leapt onto a bent containment unit using them as steps as he ran after the beast. It reared up, and he had to roll to avoid another swipe. The containment unit he stood on wobbled, and he leapt to the next. He was close now, just below the creature's left arm. The creature went down on all four legs, and he jumped. It must have felt him because it let out another roar and flung its body to the side, trying to dislodge him. He held onto the hard scales and tried to find a weak spot. The hide was thick though, and he knew even at this range the tranq might not penetrate it. Its neck was softer though, he noted as it threw its head up, twisting it to the side to try to see him. If he could just get within reach… He began to climb as Rhodey renewed his efforts to get the creature's attention.

The scales made for good handholds as he climbed upwards trying not to think about the absurdity of the situation. It reminded him of the leviathan beasts that had come to New York through the portal only much smaller. The closer he got to the neck, the closer he got to the teeth, but the beast had forgotten him as Rhodey fired a small missile at its head. Steve pressed the gun to the underside of the neck and fired.

At first he thought it had no effect on the best even though the tranq dart went deep into the skin. Then the beast swayed on its feet and started to fall. Containment units shattered and flattened as the weight of the creature hit them. Steve got unsteadily to his feet and heard Rhodey calling his name.

"Steve, jump!" He leapt into the air and Rhodey caught him by the hand, pulling him to safety. They landed a few feet away from the beast and watched as the body began to wither and shrink. The tranq dart fell out as the neck slimmed down and the scales turned to skin. Before them lay a man with tangled hair and sweat soaked skin. An agent threw a jacket over his body and he was hauled off to the containment unit that would hold him in stasis.

"Thank you." Agent Weston walked up looking pale. "That was well done."

"Most Inhumans aren't like that," Steve said.

"Thankfully. We'll make sure he stays in human form. We're trying to find a cure, you know. For those who can't learn to control their abilities, they can have the option of becoming fully human again."

"That sounds like what the world needs right now," Steve admitted.

"I don't know everything that goes on in my department," Weston admitted, lowering his voice. "I know that everyone has differing opinions on Inhumans. I just know the ATCU was created with the goal of helping Inhumans."

"Are you saying some people don't have that same goal?" Steve asked. What was Agent Weston trying to say?

"I'm just saying things aren't always quite as ideal as they seem." He nodded to one of the dead scientists who'd been there when they'd arrived. "That man worked in the Virginia facility."

Rhodey had opened the faceplate of the War Machine suit. He glanced down at the man, hesitation on his face. Steve tensed, waiting for Weston to continue.

"Just keep your eyes open," he told Steve and Rhodey. "The government might not want you interfering but sometimes you're the only ones who can help."

As he walked away, Steve frowned down at the dead scientist. Rhodey cleared his throat. "I guess maybe everything wasn't as transparent as I thought it was."

"You don't have to apologize. We all want to think the best of those who say they're fighting the good fight. But there are good people out there like Agent Weston who do want to help."

"Then there are the others who seek to corrupt everything and everyone. How do we know the difference before it's too late?"

"We don't. Not always. All we can do is keep our eyes and ears open and work together to try to stay ahead of the threats. Maybe we don't have a definitive answer about whether or not the ATCU is completely above board, but I don't think we're the only ones keeping an eye out." He quieted as some of the ATCU agents entered the building again, this time with the intention of cleaning up the bodies and the equipment. Steve snagged one of the dog masks before it could be taken.

Outside the crowds had thinned only a little. People still had cell phones pulled out taking pictures and recording the scene though the cops tried to discourage them. The containment unit was already in a truck.

"Where will you take him?" Steve asked Agent Weston.

"We have a facility in Virginia that will hold him," the agent replied.

"What about the people in Madripoor who were turned? Some of my teammates were there when it happened. We were concerned about where they'd been taken."

"Ah yes, they're at the same facility. We've been working with a few of them who have less dangerous abilities. Most just want the cure."

"How did you know to be there?" Steve asked. "Madripoor would be out of your jurisdiction, I would think."

"We were made away of the theft of the Terrigin. That gave us the authority to go after it and contain the damage it caused," the agent replied. "We got there just in time to contain a much bigger disaster."

"Will you keep us informed?" Steve asked him. "About your progress with the cure and anything else you think we should know."

"I'll see what I can do," Agent Weston told him. "Thank you again for your assistance, gentlemen. I'm afraid I have to be headed back now to oversee the transfer." He shook their hands.

"Let's get out of here," Steve said as the media began to shout at them again. Rhodey came with him on the jet, stepping out of the suit and taking the copilot's seat. His eyes went to the mask Steve had taken.

"Who were these people?" he questioned, turning the mask over. "Is this supposed to be a dog's face?"

"Looks like it. Maybe they were working with Hydra. Wanda said they shot at them and the Inhumans. Either they're working for Hydra or they have something against Inhumans."

"So far the Inhumans have been kept fairly quiet but awareness is spreading," Rhodey said.

"They'll try to cover this up but people know what's out there. They're not so easily convinced to look the other way anymore."

"Half the time it's a novelty but the other half of the time they're questioning things. We're at the beginning of something big. I'm just not sure what yet."

Steve's phone broke in, and he pulled it out of his pocket to reply. Sam's voice held a note of alarm, and Steve was instantly on alert. "I just got a call from Wanda. The Inhuman base is under attack, and Aspen doesn't have her powers."


	45. Watchdogs

**Author's Note:** Hello! I feel like it's been ages since I've written an author's note. I had a little hiatus from writing in my story for a while but I actually really got into writing in my books. I have one I'm doing a final edit on, one I'm re-writing/re-editing, and one I'm trying to finish writing with my best friend. So many books and so little time... I meant to write in one today but wrote this instead. I just re-watched Avengers 1&2 and Cap 2&3 so I had lots of inspiration. I'm having fun leading up to Civil War. I was all excited to hurry up and get there but there's so much interesting build up to it that we don't even see at all in the movies. The tension with the public and the cries for accountability concerning New York and DC and Sokovia and who should pay for the damage. It's so fascinating and important and we don't really see much of that in the movies. A little at the end of the first Avengers, but not so much after that. Zemo was right when he said the Avengers just went home after Sokovia. We don't see how they responded to the aftermath or how the public responded to it. Not until they're thrusting the Sokovia Accords into their faces.

Thank you for favorites and follows! I very much appreciate you reading!

* * *

 **42 – Watchdogs – July 21, 2015**

Aspen faced the three frightened Inhumans. "I'm Aspen Tol- Rogers. Aspen Rogers," she corrected. "I'm with the Avengers, and I have abilities too."

She flexed her fingers, feeling the absence of her powers more than ever. "We're at an Inhuman base right now. You'll be safe here. Can you tell me anything about why you were taken or the people who took you?"

"They took me after school," the boy said. He looked young, blinking at Aspen behind thick-rimmed glasses. "I wasn't doing any harm."

"What's your name?" Aspen asked him.

"Jamie."

"And what's your ability, Jamie?"

"I can see through things," he said, blushing a little. "I'd sometimes use it for tests at school when I hadn't studied. I didn't mean any harm."

"All I can do is hear things really far away," one of the girls spoke up. "What did they want from us?"

"Those men weren't trying to help you," Aspen told them. "They were trying to spread the Inhuman outbreak."

"Why?" the other girl asked. "We're freaks. Why would they want more of us?"

"You're not freaks," Aspen said, but the girl held up her hand and two extra fingers grew before their eyes.

"Cool!" Jamie said, earning a glare from the girl.

"Look, it was an organization called Hydra that took you," Aspen explained.

"Hydra? I thought the Avengers took them down," the girl with increased hearing said.

"They won't seem to stay gone," Aspen conceded.

"So they'll come after us again?" the girl asked, looking frightened.

"What's your name?" Aspen asked.

"Elise."

"Elise. The men at that facility won't be coming after you again. I took care of them and they'll be taken in by the authorities."

"But Hydra's still out there so it stands that they'll come after us again," the girl with the extra fingers said.

"Not as long as you're under our protection–"

"Avery," the girl supplied, looking unconvinced.

"The Inhumans have been taking people in, training them, and keeping them safe."

"I don't want to be trained," Avery said. "I want to go back to my life. I don't want to be this…aberration anymore."

"So far there is no cure," Aspen told her. "But you _can_ learn to control it."

"I need to get back home," Jamie said. "My parents have got to be worried out of their minds."

Elise looked around the room. "I don't want to go back," she said. "I heard things…" She didn't elaborate but Aspen understood. "I can't go back."

"What about the others?" Jamie asked. "The ones who were in the tanks?"

"They're waking up slowly," Aspen said. "They should be okay. Look, I can't force you to stay but I can't guarantee your safety if you leave. We might be able to have someone keep an eye out but that would be up to Amber. She's the head of this team. If you want to leave, no one is going to stop you, but we can at least get you home safely."

"The others are waking up," Amber said, coming over to where Aspen and the Inhumans stood. "We're making sure they're stable, but it looks like they'll pull through."

"Steve's looking into the facility," Wanda said following Amber over.

"Steve _Rogers_?" Jamie's eyes widened.

"Yes." Wanda gave him an amused smile.

Jamie turned to Aspen, eyes going to the gold band on her left hand. "Wait, you said you were Aspen Rogers so that makes you…"

"Married to Captain America, yes," Aspen said. "It's a fairly recent thing."

"Can we keep focused?" Amber asked.

"Just making pleasant conversation. Jamie and Avery want to go home. I suggested surveillance on them at least until we're sure Hydra won't go after them again," Aspen told Amber. "But that call is up to you."

"We can arrange that," Amber said. "Kyler and Adam are going back home once they get their abilities under control but we're always here for support and protection."

"I don't want someone spying on me," Avery said. "Unless you're going to keep me here, I'd like to go."

"We're a little touchy about people knowing our location – safety and all – you understand." Amber motioned to an Inhuman standing across the room. "Zachary will escort you to where you need to go."

The boy came over and took Avery's arm. The girl made to pull away but a moment later her eyes went vague.

"He can make a person forget why they're in a room or why they're upset," Amber explained. "She'll forget that she didn't want us keeping an eye on her."

"Handy."

"What about me?" Jamie asked, looking nervous.

"You're infinitely more agreeable," Amber said matter-of-factly. "We'd like to offer you protection and advice as long as we have your assurance that our base remains a secret."

"Of course. No one knows about my power anyway."

Amber turned to Elise. "You can stay," she said without hesitation. Aspen smiled. Amber might be gruff on the outside, but she had a passion for helping people. To her, no Inhuman was too dangerous to shelter.

Elise smiled for the first time since she'd been rescued. "Thank you." Her smile froze a moment later and her eyes darted to the doors.

Aspen and Amber tensed. Someone came bolting in through the doors. Wanda's red energy flared at her fingertips but it was just Zachary still hauling Avery around.

"The building's surrounded," he choked out. "Men wearing masks."

Aspen and Wanda exchanged a glance.

Amber remained calm. "Get everyone safe," she told Zachary. "Corbin!" The shout drew the boy out from where he'd been looking after Lily. "We're under attack," Amber told him. "Sound the alarm." Corbin disappeared from the room. A moment later a red light started flashing overhead. Inhumans streamed into the room. "Anyone who doesn't want to fight go deeper into the building. There's a panic room." She looked at Elise and Jamie. "You're not ready to fight, go." They nodded, going off to join the others.

"I want to stay," Avery said to Aspen's surprise. "I can fight," she added with a shrug.

Two-dozen Inhumans stayed, and Aspen could see that they were trained and ready. A team. "Guard all the entrances," Amber said, motioning to her team. They broke off into groups leaving Aspen, Wanda, Amber, Corbin, and Avery.

"How did they know where we were?" Corbin asked.

Aspen had been wondering the same thing. "Do you still have the bullet they shot Lily with?" she asked him.

He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over. Aspen shook it and heard something rattle inside. She unscrewed the tip and slid a tiny device into her palm.

"It's a tracker," she said. "They followed us here. They must be working with the men we encountered in Vermont."

Several explosions announced the arrival of the masked men. Aspen felt particularly disadvantaged compared to the others but, as far as she knew, the attackers were just men. She could handle that without her powers.

The doors flew inward and the masked men streamed in. They wore the same dog-like masks as the men in Vermont. Their weapons were advanced for a rogue group, and Aspen saw no signs of Hydra anywhere on their black outfits. The masks were something different altogether – Hydra didn't hide behind masks like this. One of the men took aim and fired, but a flash of red sent the bullet into the wall as Wanda deflected it. Corbin took hold of the weapons and the metal melted, rendering them useless. Screams issued from deeper inside the building, and Amber nodded her head to Corbin. He took off, leaving them to face the men. A couple of them pulled out knives, but none of them seemed too fazed at having their guns taken from them.

"The least you could do is tell us who you are and why you're here," Aspen said, taking a step forward. "And why your people were in Vermont."

"Clearly you're as selective about reading the news as you are about telling the public anything," one of the men said gruffly, stepping up to her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She didn't allow herself to step back even though she could smell his hot breath, sour from a recently smoked cigarette.

"It means we've been around for awhile now but you're too busy chasing super villains and bringing cities down from the sky to notice. We call ourselves the Watchdogs and we're here to eliminate the Inhuman threat."

"What gives you that right?" Aspen asked.

"All you see is Inhumans getting hurt. What you don't see is the people being hurt _by_ Inhumans. You only see what you want. You don't see super powered people using their newfound abilities to wreak havoc and hurt people. You see poor, defenseless strays that need to be taken in and coddled." Aspen could feel the electricity coming off of Amber behind her. "You might play at being a hero, but you're no better than them."

"These people are innocent," Aspen told him. "They haven't done anything to you."

"Innocent, huh? What about her?" He nodded his head at Avery. "Did you ever ask yourself why she got locked up in the first place?"

"This is a place for second chances," Aspen said. "It doesn't matter what they did before if they're willing to change.

"Doesn't matter?" he shook his head, giving her a pitying look. "That girl has made a name for herself stealing with those extra fingers and hands. If you'd bother to pay any mind to the world around you, you'd know that, but you stay locked up in that tower of yours or somewhere like it."

Aspen thought of Avery's resistance against any extra help, her obvious distain for her Inhuman abilities. If what the man said was true, she'd found a way to use them anyway. But still, she'd chosen to stay and fight. "Well you're going to have to go through me," Aspen told him. "Because I don't believe anyone is a lost cause and what you're doing isn't making anything better. That kind of hatred can only destroy. It's not going to fix anything."

"A few less Inhumans can't hurt," the man said.

Amber let out a roar, her rage beyond containment. Electricity sprung from her fingers, hitting two of the men in the chests. They collapsed to the floor. Aspen snapped her hand out to grab the man's wrist before he could sink his knife into her side. She twisted until he cried out in pain and dropped the knife. His other fist struck out, connecting with her gut. Aspen slid backwards with the force but recovered quickly, twisting and sinking her elbow into his chin. She kicked him hard in the chest before he could recover. Around her the Inhumans fought the men, Avery striking out with extra hands and Wanda's eyes glowing red as she sent men flying into the walls. Amber's fingers were glowing with electricity and the hatred in her eyes was just as deadly.

An ache for her own powers made it difficult for Aspen to focus on the fight, but the man she was fighting was coming at her again. Aspen executed a move Natasha had taught her, lunging forward and using the wall for momentum. She landed squarely on the man's back, arms going around his neck. He grappled at her hands, but she refused to let go until he threw himself at the wall, knocking the breath from her. It was just enough for her to loosen her grip, and he took full advantage, grabbing her arms and flinging her off of him. She managed a clumsy roll as she hit the floor but the immediate pain was distracting. She was so used to cutting her pain off that when it hit her in full force she felt her concentration slipping. If she'd had her powers she would have finished this man off ages ago. Now she continued to fight him, deflecting punches and trying desperately to get her own hits in.

"I should thank you," the man said, his breath thick behind the mask. "This fight was just a diversion. An old friend of yours provided us with some fun new toys."

Aspen stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"Crossbones says hello." The man pushed her back. The Watchdogs were already retreating when Aspen felt the ground rumble.

"What have you done?"

Corbin came racing into the room. "The whole place is going down!" he shouted. "We need to evacuate _now_!" Around them the cement pillars that held up the ceiling began to crumble. The ceiling split and cracked. Amber and Corbin had already raced further into the building and the men were escaping out the doors.

A pillar split down the middle but before it could crumble and fall Wanda wrapped her energy around it. Red glowed outward, enveloping the ceiling and the splitting pillars. "I can hold it for a little while," she said, and Aspen could see the strain it was putting on her. "Go! I'll be okay."

That snapped Aspen out of her daze. Even without her powers, she could still do something to help. She sprinted deeper into the facility passing Jamie and Elise who both looked terrified. The younger and less experienced Inhumans were deep into the facility and another explosion rocked the ground under Aspen's feet as she tried to reach them. She saw Lily transporting as many people out as she could, her face stretched with weariness. Amber was motioning people toward an exit.

Aspen should have sensed this. If she'd had her powers she would have been able to see the Watchdogs coming. She would have known their plan and been able to stop the bombs from ever being planted. The ceiling shook, and Aspen watched in horror as a chunk of cement detached itself from the ceiling and careened toward the group of Inhumans making their way down the hall.

"Watch out!" Aspen sprinted forward as if sheer force of will could stop the ceiling from falling. She strained at her mind so hard she thought her skull might split, but her powers were still dampened, still cut off. She lunged forward as the ceiling fell, pushing a girl as hard as she could. Something heavy hit her shoulder and pain seared down her arm. She fell to the floor as a pile of rubble trapped her, burying her under cement and cutting off the air. She waited to be crushed, but the pieces of broken ceiling had trapped her in a small cave. She couldn't move. Something warm lay next to her uninjured arm and she reached out to find a hand. The rest of the body was buried under the cement, and she quickly drew her hand away. The building continued to collapse around her and all she could do was close her eyes and wait for it to end.

…

When Steve arrived in Brooklyn, he found a pile of rubble lying where the Inhuman base used to be. Police and firemen were on site. At first he thought perhaps he'd come to the wrong part of town, that this was some completely random building. It wasn't though. He set the quinjet down and sprinted toward the rubble. Wanda and Sam intercepted him.

"What happened?" he asked. He could see Amber standing with a group of scared Inhumans as a policeman questioned them. He could hear them asking why Amber and the others had been there and whether they'd been playing with explosives. Amber started to reply, but Steve turned his attention back to Sam and Wanda before he could hear her response.

"There was an attack," Wanda said. "The same men who attacked in Vermont. They called themselves the Watchdogs. They blew up the building in order to hurt the Inhumans."

"Where's Aspen?" She wasn't standing with them nor was she with the Inhumans. His eyes scanned the area, heart picking up tempo when he didn't find her.

"She was in the building when it collapsed," Wanda said. Her voice broke. "I haven't been able to find her."

It felt like the world was dropping out from underneath his feet and he was running toward the ruins before he could process what she'd said. Sam and Rhodey followed, working to move rubble. Wanda caught up with Steve, using her abilities to effortlessly displace the thick chunks of concrete. Steve began to dig, lifting the pieces up and hoping he wasn't going to find Aspen buried underneath. Panic threatened to overwhelm him, and his ears rang though the explosions were over long before he'd arrived.

"Over here!" He heard Wanda's voice and plunged toward her, terrified by what he was about to find.

Wanda had shifted a chunk of cement to reveal two bodies. One was covered in blood and disfigured enough to twist Steve's stomach. It wasn't Aspen though. Aspen lay next to the body, curled in a defensive ball. She shifted as light penetrated where she'd lain for who knew how long. She looked up and saw Steve.

"I couldn't stop it," she said, her voice trembling. She looked over at the body of the Inhuman and let out a strangled sob. Steve jumped down and carefully lifted her. She cradled her arm against her side, hissing in pain when he pulled her into his arms. He noticed how limply it hung and realized it might be broken. "They died because I couldn't sense them coming," she whispered.

"It's not your fault," Steve said automatically though he knew she'd already blamed herself, contemplating how things might have gone differently while she waited in the dark next to the dead.

Sam and Wanda followed him back to the quinjet as he carried Aspen there. "The police are questioning the Inhumans," Wanda said. "They don't believe that terrorists attacked the building. The Inhumans were staying here but they had no official rights to the building."

"I'll take care of it," Steve said as he set Aspen down on the jet, careful not to jostle her. "I'll be right back," he told Aspen. "Will you stay with her?" he asked, turning to Wanda. She nodded, sitting next to Aspen and taking her uninjured hand. Sam followed Steve back to the police while Rhodey continued to remove rubble.

"You have no right!" Amber was nearly screaming at the policeman. Steve could see the man reaching for handcuffs. Something white hot flashed at Amber's fingertips. This was about to get ugly.

"That's not necessary," Steve said. The policeman looked over, eyes widening as he took in Steve and his uniform.

"Sir, these people were trespassing," the policeman said though his confidence had shrunk in Steve's presence.

"These people are under my protection," Steve told him. "They were attacked by a hate group. Those are the people you should be after, not these kids."

"You're taking responsibility for them?" the policeman clarified.

"I am," Steve said steadily. There were about fifteen Inhumans there standing behind Amber. He didn't know how many were dead, but he hoped more had escaped.

"We've taken half a dozen to the hospital," the policeman said. "Some of these kids are runaways, under eighteen. Their parents will be informed. This is highly irregular."

"They ran away for a reason," Amber said, her tone biting.

"We can't just leave them to live on the streets," the policeman told her.

"They weren't-"

"Right now you should be focused on the group that calls themselves the Watchdogs," Sam cut in. "They're the ones who attacked these kids. They're dangerous and they're still out there."

"I've heard of them," the cop said, narrowing his eyes. "They're an anti-Inhuman group." His eyes widened and he turned to look at Amber and her team. "You're not…"

"Like I said," Steve told him, stepping between him and Amber. "They're under my protection. I suggest you let them go. They haven't committed any crime."

"Trespassing is…" The man cut off at Steve's look. "Yes, sir." He moved off to join the other police who were helping pull the bodies from the rubble.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Steve asked Amber.

"We'll find somewhere," she said flatly.

"Avengers Tower," Steve told her. "You and your team can stay there for now. I'll clear it with Tony."

"We don't need charity," she said.

"You took a hit. There's plenty of room there for your whole team. Tony's away right now so you won't have to worry about running into anyone. At least until you find a new place."

He saw Amber struggling with herself. Then her shoulders deflated, and he knew he'd won. "Just for now," she agreed. "Is Aspen okay? I saw you taking her to the jet."

There was genuine concern behind Amber's dark eyes, and Steve knew she really did care about Aspen despite her gruffness toward her. "She'll be all right. She's just shaken."

"Is everything taken care of in Vermont?"

Steve nodded. "We might have a set of eyes in the ATCU but for now it doesn't look like they were involved. I'll have my team look into these Watchdogs. I suggest you stay away from them." He didn't like the tight-lipped expression Amber gave him, but she didn't argue.

"My jet can fit everyone," Sam said. "Is this your whole team?"

Amber shook her head. "Lily transported more people out of here. I'll find out where."

"We'll finish up here," Sam assured Steve. "Get Aspen and Wanda home."

Steve sent in a call to Tony before getting on the jet, explaining the situation and asking for sanctuary for the Inhumans. "Tower's theirs for as long as they need it," Tony told him. "I'll have someone there get some rooms and food ready. I heard something about the Watchdogs. They've been publicly standing up against Inhumans, getting bolder each time. I'll see if I can find out anything more on them."

"Thanks Tony."

Aspen was still curled up where Steve had deposited her. Wanda took the copilot's seat to speak with him as he took off and headed back to the compound. "What did Sam mean when he said Aspen didn't have her powers?" he asked her.

"When we were in Vermont one of the scientists hit her with something. It cut off her abilities temporarily but they hadn't come back when the attack happened. She blames herself," she said softly, glancing back at Aspen. "She would have been able to sense them ahead of time or stop the bombs. She would have been able to save those Inhumans."

Steve was silent. He knew there was no swaying Aspen from these thoughts even if it hadn't been her fault. "When she used her powers to look into the minds of those people in Vermont…" He hesitated, gathering his words. "What was she like? Desperate? Angry? Out of control?"

"Angry, I think. Maybe a little desperate. They were Hydra so they weren't going to talk. She's desperate for answers."

"She swore she'd never get inside someone's mind again." Had there been other times he didn't know about?

"I don't think she saw them as human," Wanda told him. "Not when they'd hurt the Inhumans like that. She knows what it's like to be hurt like that."

Steve closed his eyes. "Of course she does." Of course she'd been desperate and angry when she had been experimented on like those Inhumans. Sometimes situations forced you to do things you weren't comfortable with. She wasn't the only one. Nick Fury had once called him out on what his generation had done during the war, and Steve had justified it telling Fury that they compromised so that people could be free. Sometimes what they did was enough to give them nightmares, but in the end it was necessary.

The rest of the flight was made in silence. Aspen didn't say a word, silently staring into space with her broken arm cradled against her body. After Steve set the jet down, he moved to pick her up. She shook her head though, getting to her feet on her own. Steve didn't move to help her, just kept a careful eye on her. Wanda, however, wrapped an arm around Aspen's waist and guided her inside and to the medical bay. Tony kept people staffed at the compound to keep things running smoothly and there was a medic there to set Aspen's arm.

"It's broken," she told them, "but it's a clean break. I'll set the bone and make a cast for it."

"No cast," Aspen said, speaking for the first time. "Just a sling."

Instead of questioning her, the medic followed through with Aspen's request. Aspen shook her head at the pain medication she was offered. Steve watched as she gritted her teeth against the pain. He felt the pain himself as he watched the doctor set the bone and bandage the arm. Aspen didn't make a sound, and he wondered if her abilities had come back allowing her to shut off the pain.

"Thank you," Aspen said once her arm was in a sling. The medic nodded, giving Steve a worried look. He and Wanda followed Aspen upstairs to the living quarters. Aspen perched on the edge of the couch, and Steve sat next to her.

"Rumlow sold them the weapons," Aspen said.

"What?" Steve brought his thoughts back to the incident.

"One of the Watchdogs told me that Crossbones said hello. He sold them their weapons. The guns they had were not standard issue. They would have come from some sort of illegal operation or the black market. He's feeding chaos just like Hydra. Carrying on their legacy."

"How did the Watchdogs know where the Inhuman base was?" Steve asked.

"They tracked us. The ones in Vermont shot Lily with a bullet that also had a tracking device in it. I don't know if they were working with Hydra but they wanted to see the Inhumans dead."

"We won't let them hurt Amber's team again. They're staying at the Tower for now."

"We need to hunt those bastards down."

He knew that tone. Knew that look in her eye. "We can't fight hate with hate," he told her softly, touching her hand. She seemed to wilt under his touch. She pulled her hand away from his but only to cover her face as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.

"How many?" she asked, her voice choked with tears. "How many Inhumans died?"

"I don't know how many," Steve told her. "A few. They were still searching the rubble."

"Hydra didn't need to teach my brother and me hate," Wanda said. "We already had hatred in our hearts, but then I met you and your team and you showed me how to fight hatred with compassion. We'll hunt these men down, we'll make sure they get justice, but we'll make sure they know we're better than them."

Aspen looked up at her. "You're right," she said. "Except for one thing. The hatred never really leaves your heart. It consumes you until you do things you swore you'd never do again. Until you hurt others even before they hurt you."

"You're not the person you're describing," Steve told her, rubbing a hand over her back. She felt small under his touch.

"It was easier before when I could cut it all off," she said bitterly. "Without that ability I feel everything so much stronger than before. _This_ is the true me, not the muted version. I feel like I've been living a lie."

"Your abilities don't shut you off from emotions. They don't change who you are," Steve told her.

"They do if I choose not to feel pain or sorrow or fear," Aspen said. "They do if I don't allow myself to be human. I wanted to hurt those men just as much as they wanted to hurt us," she told him. It felt like a confession. He wanted to stop her, but she forged on. "It was easier before to convince myself what I was doing, what I was feeling was okay. I had the ability to reach inside and pull out what I needed. Today I couldn't do that but I wished I could. I wanted to hurt them in a way they couldn't even imagine. You want to tell me that that wasn't me, that I was angry and hurt and frightened but I felt more like myself than I had in a long time. This isn't about me though. This is about those Inhumans who paid with their lives for the hatred of those men. The world offers no protection for people like them. For people like us. We have to win this war before it begins or this will be the best possible scenario."

"Not everyone is working against us," Steve told her. "I went to the facility in Vermont with Rhodey. We met a man who works for the ATCU and he assured us they're trying to find a cure but they're also giving Inhumans the option of learning to control their abilities." He knew he should tell her the rest – that Agent Weston had been suspicious too, that not everyone had the same motivations and goals even within the same organization – but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that right now when her hope was in tatters. "Things are going to get better. They have to."

"I wish I had your optimism," she told him, looking at him through watery eyes. "You try to find the good in everything and everyone and it's one of the most beautiful things about you."

"What about the prince?" Wanda asked after a pause. "Are they going to help him?"

"They put him in stasis for now. He went back to human form after we tranquilized him. I'm not sure helping him control his ability would be in anyone's best interests."

"He was a monster before the Terrigin," Aspen said coldly. "He wanted to spread the Terrigin just like Hydra. I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of their sponsors."

"He won't be anymore. He won't be a threat to anyone as long as he stays locked up," Steve said. He realized how much could go wrong if Hydra really did have a hand in the ATCU. Finding people to trust these days was a tenuous thing. People who were supposed to help hurt instead. It was a world that needed the Avengers more than ever and yet they were being met with resistance when they tried to help. They always hoped for a day when the world would no longer need heroes, but a day when the world no longer wanted heroes was a frightening thought.


	46. Insecurities

**Author's Note:** I decided to reread _A Game of Trust_ because it had been ages, and I'd forgotten a lot of what I'd written. I found some typos. I was horrified. I mean, I do edit, but I'm only human. Still, I had to change them immediately. I just realized how dark Aspen has gotten. This chapter really struggles with that, and it was kind of a hard one to write. She was just so sweet and innocent in the first story. Anyway, we're going to see her struggle some more with making choices and choosing sides when it comes to her morals in the next few chapters. I'm thinking like four or five more chapters maybe in part three. But maybe more. I mean, sheesh. It's only been like two months in their time yet I've written like 50 chapters. I guess that's not a bad thing. This story is turning out to be like twice as long as the other ones. Maybe I'm dragging it out because we don't know what happens to Steve after Civil War until 20 freaking 18 or whenever the next Avengers movie comes out. Anyway, I'm rambling. I stayed up too late writing again. I do that a lot. Send help. Enjoy. Goodnight.

* * *

 **43 – Insecurities – July 22, 2015**

Aspen's powers returned to her somewhere after midnight. She'd been lying awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling and unable to fall asleep because of the pain. Refusing pain medication was her way of punishing herself, and she knew it wasn't healthy. Now her brain kicked into gear and she could feel her bones mending, speeding up the healing process. The pain was sharp for a moment and then dulled to a manageable throb. She wished it would keep hurting because it was the only thing distracting her from thinking about the attack on the Inhuman base. She'd overheard Rhodey telling Steve that six Inhumans had been killed in the explosion. Aspen knew it could have been worse, but that didn't make her feel any better. They were supposed to save lives but more lives were lost every day because of Hydra or people like them. For whatever good they did, it felt like there was double the bad happening somewhere in the world.

She'd pretended to be asleep when Steve had come to bed, unable to face him yet. She knew he was worried about her, and maybe he had a good reason to be. Lately she'd been feeling so angry and resentful in a way that pushed her moral compass into ambiguous waters. She'd once made a promise to herself that she would never take lives but now all she wanted to do was hurt the people who'd hurt the Inhumans and other innocents like them. She wished she didn't have that dark side of her because it was something that put her apart from Steve, something that made them different. Rolling over, she looked at his sleeping form next to her. He had his back turned to her as if he was trying to give her space. He'd killed before of course; it wasn't something you could avoid in war. But he hadn't done it willingly, hadn't wanted to. He didn't take pleasure in causing other people pain even if they were bullies. Aspen had come to realize that she'd stopped differentiating her enemies. Once it had been different taking the life of a human versus a Chitauri or an Ultron replica. Now they were all the same, and she would be lying if she said she didn't derive some pleasure from causing them as much pain as they'd caused others. It sickened her, but it was undeniable. She felt no regrets over having dug into the Hydra agent's mind and felt no pity after learning of the casualties in the aftermath of Prince Baran's attack in his Inhuman form. The world was better off without those people.

 _Who are you?_ a little voice in her head asked. She had no answer for it.

…

When she awoke the next morning, she could hear the TV in the lounge. Steve was already up and gone, his side of the bed cold. Aspen pulled on a robe and headed down the hallway to listen to the news report. Sam, Wanda, and Steve were there, and when Aspen entered the room they looked over at her with the same sort of expression on their faces. Caution. Hesitance. None of them knew how to help her or what she needed right now. She didn't know either, so she sat down on the edge of the coffee table and turned her attention to the TV, tuning into what the reporter was saying.

"Six are dead in an explosion in a Brooklyn factory yesterday afternoon. Though the factory was supposedly abandoned, police confirm that a group of Inhumans had been living there. The attack has been confirmed as a hate crime carried out by an extremist group that call themselves the Watchdogs. The group made their debut appearance on the internet several months ago when super powered people became a more common occurrence. Some people are calling them Inhumans and it is unclear as of yet how many are out there. The videos the Watchdogs posted have protested the Inhumans and other super powered people such as the Avengers, criticizing them for the secrets they keep from the public and the destruction they've caused. Ever since the alien attack on New York in 2012 and the public appearance of the team known as the Avengers, awareness that these people exist has spread. In their most recent video, posted just this morning after their attack on the Inhumans, the Watchdogs make a very clear statement about their intentions."

A video started to play, grainy and dark. A man's face appeared, masked behind a dog's face. Aspen felt her blood boil at the sight of that mask. "More and more Inhumans are cropping up. Soon we're going to be outnumbered and we won't stand a chance against them. Who do we look to then? Not the Avengers. The Avengers shelter people like this. If we don't make a stand then there will be no place left for humans. Don't trust them. They could be anywhere. They look like us but they are nothing like us. We're the Watchdogs, and we're going to keep hunting Inhumans down until they're purged from this earth."

"Sources say the Inhuman group who had been living in the Brooklyn factory are now seeking sanctuary in Avengers Tower in downtown New York City. Several groups of protestors have gathered at the Tower to display their opinions on the matter."

The screen switched to a view of the street outside of the Tower. Protestors held up signs that read 'Pro Human, Anti Inhuman', 'Go back to your mother ship', 'Not my heroes' and other negative statements.

"We don't know who these people are or where they came from," a woman said to the camera. "The Avengers are supposed to protect us but they're protecting these aliens instead. I want to feel safe in my city, but I'm too afraid of what these people might do."

"Disaster follows people like this," said a man next. "They think because they have special powers that it gives them more rights than us. Someone's got to put them in check otherwise they don't bother following the rules like the rest of us. I don't think the Avengers are the ones who are going to set those rules. They don't follow them either."

"Reactions to the recent outbreak in super powered people has led to a lot of debate. We've asked people to Tweet their opinions to the WHiH Twitter page. So far responses have ranged from standing out against Inhumans to showing dedicated support for the Avengers and anyone out there who's different. AmieB22 writes: 'The Avengers have saved the world over and over. We owe them our lives and we owe these new people with abilities a chance. They might be saving our lives one day too.' Thors_gurl states: 'Every time someone different comes along we feel the need to enslave them, judge them, segregate them, or fear them. Why don't we try a little compassion instead of ignorance?'"

"Police are looking into the Watchdog group, but for now the Inhumans remain a mystery. Tune in next week for a special report on the Avengers and whether threats have increased or decreased since their public debut. I'm Christine Everhart and this is WHiH News."

Aspen felt something close to anger edged with disbelief. People were protesting the Inhumans staying in Avengers Tower. Like they had any right to debate the matter. "Who do these people think they are?" she asked spitefully. "They don't understand us." She could feel Steve's gaze on her and instantly felt ashamed for her words. What was wrong with her? Her compassion had given way to frustration and distain. She knew people were just afraid.

"At least some people are being supportive," Wanda said. Her tone was wary, and Aspen felt worse. Wanda looked up to her as a mentor, and Aspen was letting hate get in the way of her thoughts.

She took a deep breath. "I'm just worried at how this will turn out," she said, forcing her voice into a calm tone. "People are already judging Inhumans, marking them as dangerous. The Inhumans didn't ask for this. They didn't release the Terrigin."

"People will have to adapt," Steve said. "They don't have to like it, but they're not the only ones out there anymore."

"So what do we do?" Sam asked. Could they do anything? They couldn't _make_ people accept the Inhumans.

"We can't really do anything," Steve said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. Aspen could see the tension in his shoulders and the little curve between his eyebrows that appeared when he was worried. "We can stop riots and we can keep threats at bay but we can't make people like the Inhumans and we can't give people assurance that all Inhumans are good. Like humans, they can make bad choices too."

"And then the world will lump them all together and give none of them a chance," Aspen said, unable to inspire any optimism.

Steve glanced over at her. "Let's hope not."

…

Steve caught up to Aspen as she headed back to their room after the news report. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her before she had the chance to shut herself in the bathroom.

"What makes you think something is wrong?" she asked, eyes dancing around, avoiding his. He knew she didn't want to vent her anger at him, but he'd rather that than her keep it bottled up.

"Because I know you."

"I'm not sure I know myself anymore." She said it softly, still not meeting his eyes. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear with her injured arm, and he realized she must have healed overnight. She hadn't had that ability before, but anymore he was unsure of what her limitations were if there were any.

"You're angry and frustrated," he told her. That much he knew. "You relate to the Inhumans and you want to help them. You resent those who judge them. You're frustrated that you don't know who to trust to help the Inhumans and that Hydra has already hurt them. That your abilities were taken from you right before the attack. You're angry with yourself for using your powers to look into their heads in the facility in Vermont."

"You know about that?"

"Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"All right but one," she said, finally meeting his eyes. The pale green was subdued today, he thought. The usual spark wasn't there. "I'm not angry that I let myself use my powers to get into their heads. In fact, it felt good to dig around. After what they'd done to those Inhumans. I used to draw a line there. I used to refuse to violate people in that way. I know what it is to have someone mess with your head, and it's not fun. But I don't care anymore." Her voice was rising in pitch, and he wasn't convinced she didn't care. "I stopped caring somewhere along the line. I stopped drawing the line there because I stopped seeing them as human. Maybe it was in New Jersey when I tortured that man to find out where Strucker was. Maybe it was when I broke his neck. I used to care so much. I never wanted to be the kind of person to take a life. After I killed Danners all those years ago… I was torn apart. I thought I'd crossed a line that I could never cross back over. I was so innocent back then. It seems like it was in another lifetime altogether." She pressed her fingers to her brow. "I got tougher, I got stronger, but what did I give up to do that?"

Steve stood there wanting to comfort her, wanting to say _something_ to make her feel better, but here was no point in saying empty words. The fact was, he didn't know _how_ to help her. He felt like she was falling and maybe had been for a while but it had taken him all this time to even notice. They'd had that short period of happiness between all the chaos but as soon as it was over she'd begun to fall again. Maybe he wasn't enough to stop it. Maybe he wasn't enough…

"I look at you and see everything that's right with this world." She was looking at him now from across the room. Somehow she seemed even further away than a few feet. "You don't let yourself give into hatred. You carry a shield not a gun, not something meant to hurt but to protect. I _am_ a weapon. And I hurt people. Don't tell me that's not who I am because I've changed. I chose to keep the serum because I wanted to help people, but all I've done is hurt them."

"That's not true."

She gave him a sad look as if he didn't understand. Maybe he didn't. "I'm not good like you. Not anymore. Look at me now making this all about me. It shouldn't matter if I'm struggling, shouldn't make a difference if I'm questioning myself. There's a bigger picture, and I don't matter in comparison."

"You always matter. You matter to me. Aspen, when you married me I made a commitment to keep you safe and to look after you. Please don't shut me out." He took a step toward her but she stepped back. He hesitated. She'd never pulled away from him like this. The hurt must have shown in his eyes because he saw her expression change. For a moment she looked like herself again, and he felt himself hope, but then it closed off again leaving him out in the cold.

"Sometimes I think you deserve better," she said before opening the bathroom door and locking it behind her.

He should have called after her, should have told her it wasn't true, should have broken down the door and pulled her in his arms. He didn't though. He turned and left her, finding his way to his office and shutting himself in. He could feel Sam and Wanda watching him as he passed them, but he said nothing. What more was there to say?

He stared at his computer screen for a long time, tapping his fingers absently on the desk. When his phone vibrated in his pocket, he jumped. He pulled it out and saw that Ava was calling him. He was half tempted not to answer, but he didn't want to cut people off like Aspen had done to him.

"Hey, Ava," he said, accepting the call.

"Hello, Steve. How are you?" she asked though he could tell from her tone that she wasn't calling just to chat.

"I've been better," he admitted.

"I'm calling because Aspen won't answer her phone," Ava said. "I saw the news. I just wanted to make sure she was all right."

"I don't think she is," Steve said. "We just had…well, not really a fight but she shut me out. She won't talk to me, and she keeps saying she doesn't recognize herself anymore. She's…changed. I just hadn't seen it until now. I should have. I should have been the first person to see it, but I think it's been going on for a while now. She used her powers to get into a Hydra agent's mind recently. She used to draw the line before invading someone else's mind, but now she says she doesn't care. There was a reason she refused to do that before. It's like she thinks she's not a good person anymore. She told me she didn't think she deserved me. I don't know what to do or say. I feel like I'm failing her somehow. I'm married to her now, but I don't know the first thing about being married. It's scarier than taking on Hydra and Red Skull combined."

"It's not easy," Ava said. "It wasn't always easy with Gregor and me. With Aspen... She's always wanted so much to be good. I don't know her as well as I'd like, but it's always been clear to me that all she's ever wanted was to be good. And she is. She's selfless and passionate and kind. But she's also hard on herself. She sets her expectations too high and when she doesn't reach them she feels like a failure to herself and to others. To you. You the most because she loves you more than anything else in this world. It's no contest. You _are_ her world, and in pushing you away she thinks she's protecting you."

"How do I help her?"

"Aspen's stubborn as you well know. She's going to get better when she decides it's all right for her to get better. Right now she's punishing herself and that includes pushing you away. Don't let her push you away. I know you're not a pushy person, but she's only going to respond if you give her no choice."

"I can try…"

"She'll respond to you. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I worry about her."

"I know you do."

"Was she involved with the incident in Brooklyn?" Steve could hear the anxiety in her voice. He couldn't imagine what it was like to be a parent to someone who was constantly in danger like Aspen was.

"She was. She's friends with the Inhumans who were targeted. She blames herself for the ones who died."

Ava sighed. "Of course she does. People are scared. They don't understand what's happening and their last experience with something alien wasn't a good one."

"We're all trying to adjust to it. There are a lot of unknowns right now."

"I just feel safer knowing you and your teammates are out there," Ava told him. "Whatever people say, the world is a safer place because of you."

"I hope so."

They chatted a little longer, Ava asking trivial questions to distract him from his worries. He appreciated it even if it didn't work. Wanda found him in his office a few minutes later after he'd hung up.

"Are you all right?" she asked. He felt guilty that everyone was asking that. He didn't even know the names of the six Inhumans who'd died yesterday. He should have been at the Tower making sure Amber and her team were all right. He knew Aspen hadn't done the same because she was blaming herself for the six deaths.

"Just worried about Aspen," he told her.

"We all are. She's not herself. Why don't you stay here with her? Sam, Vision, and I are going to follow up on a lead we might have on Rumlow. Natasha's meeting us. We thought you could use a break. We're going to check in on the Inhumans too and make sure they have everything they need. No one blames Aspen. Amber blamed herself for dragging her team and us into the mess in Vermont. You should have seen her when she thought Aspen hadn't made it out of the rubble. There was a building full of people with powers, myself included yet Aspen blames everything on herself."

"Thanks, Wanda. You're a good friend to her. You did well yesterday; you kept a level head and saved a lot of lives. I'll talk to Aspen, see if I can't get her to calm down and see things a little differently. Yesterday was just too much for her."

"Everyone needs time," Wanda said. "Everyone has their limits."

She squeezed his shoulder before leaving the office. After they headed out, the compound fell silent. Steve headed down the hall toward his and Aspen's room, hearing the shower shut off from within the bathroom. He shut the door to their room and sat on the bed, waiting until he heard the lock slide.

"Have you been here this whole time?" Aspen asked. Her hair was dripping down her back. Wrapped in a towel, she padded over to the dresser and pulled out a sweater and jeans. Even though it was warm outside, the compound was cool. Her arm was bruised where it had been broken the day before, but she didn't look like she was in any pain.

"No, I just came back," he told her. "I needed to think about what you said."

"And?" She stood with her back to him, but he could hear the hope in her voice. She wanted to hear what he had to say. He stood.

"Aspen, you're the best part of my life and I don't care if you have a dark side. We all do. Do you think even I haven't ever done something I regretted? That I haven't hurt people? I'm not perfect. I'm not flawless and I'm not innocent. I've taken lives. I've hurt people. Sometimes it's what we have to do in order to save more people. I don't ever want you to think you don't deserve me or that I deserve better. You don't get to decide that."

"People see heroes when they look at us," Aspen said softly. "But what if those protesters were right? What if disaster does follow us? It doesn't matter what we do because something bad will happen eventually."

"Disaster follows people, not us," Steve said. "You didn't cause any of what happened yesterday."

"That doesn't stop me from feeling guilty. People died and I couldn't save them. I know it wasn't my fault, and I know it's selfish to take the blame. Somehow it gets harder and harder to move on. It's like I take all that pain and hurt and store it in my own heart until there's no room for anything else."

"Then you make room. You force it in."

"I don't know how." Her eyes were pleading, and he knew he'd finally gotten through to her.

"Then let me show you." He crossed the room in two steps, grabbing her waist and pulling her to him. Her hand slammed into his chest as he brought his mouth to hers, trying to put every bit of what he felt for her into it. At first she didn't kiss him back, but she might have been surprised. A second later her fist clenched his shirt, and she pulled him closer, kissing him back. Her other hand slid up under his shirt, warm against his skin except for the cold metal band of her wedding ring. He'd always held back before, always hesitated though she drove his mind wild and made his heart flip over backwards. Now he could feel her wanting more just as much as him. She was giving in, abandoning the cold shoulder she'd carried earlier that morning and the guilt that had gnawed her and left her feeling empty and alone.

She slid both hands under the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head before running her fingers down his back. "Do we have time for this?" she asked a moment later, pulling away from his lips. "I mean there's got to be someone out there who needs our help. We can't be getting away this easily." She sounded like herself again though her voice was still raw and he knew she was struggling to let herself be happy for a moment.

"Our team's got it covered," he said, kissing her collarbone. "We're alone. Besides, I always have time for my girl." He pulled away, looking her in the eye. She smiled then, and he saw the walls she'd built up around herself crumbling down.

She put her hands on either side of his face and leaned up to give him a long, soft kiss. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Sorry for shutting you out. I'm not going to pretend I'm not a total mess right now but sometimes you're the only thing that keeps me sane. I'm sorry if I hurt you." She kissed him again, this time deeper. Her hands slid to his hips, and he felt his heart beat a little stronger.

With a tug, the towel fell to the floor. He ran his hands down her shoulders, still dappled with water from the shower. He could feel her spine under her skin, feel the bump of a scar on her lower back. Her skin was soft and warm, familiar but still new under his touch. He could tell she was just as nervous as he felt, her touch gentle as if she was afraid of hurting him. He held her like porcelain, never more aware of his strength and of how small she was. He would never mistake that smallness for weakness though. He could feel her gathering strength, pushing aside the constraints that had driven her away from him earlier.

The world outside ceased to exist. Whatever catastrophe was happening could wait if only for a little while. It didn't matter their flaws because they were perfect in each other's arms, perfect in a way he didn't think possible. He felt like he was losing and finding himself all at once, learning more about her even thought he thought he knew it all. Later they lay together, Aspen's back against his chest, her head fit under his chin. Her stomach was warm under his hands, her breathing deep.

"I know who I am," she said softly. "I've always known but I needed you to remind me. We all have darkness in us but it doesn't make us weak, doesn't keep us from being good. I think I sometimes expect too much of myself. I think I have to be perfect and wholly good to be a hero, to be an Avenger. Being an Avenger was never about being perfect though. You can't help a world you don't understand, and the world is far from perfect. I let myself be consumed by guilt for something that wasn't my fault. I let it muddle my head, let it make me doubt. I can't help anyone like that."

Steve brushed his lips against the top of her head. "You've always been perfect to me," he told her. "Doubt and all."

"You have to say that," she said, a hint of a laugh in her voice. "Otherwise you might fall out of favor."

"Harboring a backup in case I fall through?" he teased.

"Yeah. His name is Tad. I keep him in the basement."

"I want you to be able to tell me anything. If you feel like you did this morning…if you feel inadequate…"

"I don't feel so inadequate anymore," she said with a smirk.

"Just let me in."

"I will. I always think I need to handle things on my own but I'm always wrong. I guess there's a reason we belong together. Someone has to knock some sense into me from time to time. Or kiss some sense into me."

"Maybe the boundaries you set years ago aren't applicable today," Steve told her, furrowing his brow in thought. "Times have changed, threats have grown. Sometimes we have to change too; sometimes we have to be willing to do more to stop those threats. I know you'd never cross a line too far, but maybe the line's stretched. Maybe life no longer gives us the luxury of holding back."

"You think getting into the Hydra agent's mind wasn't a bad thing."

"I think you were desperate to find out his motives so you could help the Inhumans. It doesn't make sense to not go after something that could help you save lives. You have a gift. You don't use it because you want to hurt people. You use it because you want to help people. I just think you're being too hard on yourself."

"I was afraid of what you'd think of me if you found out I'd gotten into his mind. Especially after last time…"

"I just wanted to know that _you_ were all right," he told her. "I was worried about what _you_ would think after the fact. I trust you to do what needs to be done and still be a good person at the end of the day."

"God, why do all our conversations turn out to be so philosophical? I feel like we're on some cheesy soap opera where the characters just say really big words and no one has any idea what's happening." Her ribs vibrated with laughter under his hands, and he smiled, glad her sense of humor had returned.

"That's…an interesting analogy."

"Sorry. I babble sometimes."

"I've noticed. What would you rather talk about? The weather? The Yankees? Last week's episode of Law & Order?"

"That all sounds epically dull." She turned her head to look at him. "If we become one of those couples who watches Jeopardy and does double dates with friends we might need an intervention." Her eyes slid to the clock on the nightstand. She moaned. "We should probably get up and get dressed and face today."

"Let's do something different," he suggested. "The team's got it covered today. I think I need to smile a few more times today to feel ready for tomorrow. Yesterday…I thought I'd lost you for a moment when no one could find you." It wasn't the first time he'd had that sense of panic, and he knew it wouldn't be the last time.

Aspen's eyes widened. "I didn't even think about that, about how scared you must have been. I was scared too, but it was selfish of me to think I was the only one."

He shook his head. "It's okay," he told her. "I didn't lose you, and that's what matters."

"So what do you suggest? For today?" She propped herself up on her elbow, eyes filled with the same vivid light he was used to seeing.

"Something normal? Coney Island? It's a beautiful day outside." The sun was shining, and it seemed a waste to spend all day inside. Well, not a _waste_. He just needed to escape for a few hours, remind himself that he could take a breath every once in awhile. He waited for Aspen's response.

"I've never been there," she told him.

"You've never been there?" he asked, eyes widening.

"I'm not a native New Yorker like you!" she said. "It's your responsibility to introduce me to these things and I have to say, I think you're dropping the ball."

"Then we're going to fix that. Get dressed."

"Yes, sir." She slid out of bed, smirking at him as she crossed the room to grab her clothes. She swapped her jeans for shorts and a tank top, pulling her hair into a ponytail and snatching her sunglasses from the dresser. "You'll have to help me put sunblock on though otherwise I'll burn the shade of a crab," she told him as he pulled a T-shirt over his head. Her tone held a hint of excitement, and she was nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet when they walked out to the garage. Steve had texted Sam to let him know where they were going, and Sam had assured him they had everything covered for the day.

The sun was brilliant on the drive, and they rolled their windows down. Aspen was smiling, looking happier than he'd seen her since their honeymoon. He'd catch a glimmer of something shadowy in her eyes from time to time, and he knew she was thinking about the Inhumans. He could tell she was struggling to let herself feel happy. One of the most difficult parts of the job was letting go. It didn't mean they stopped caring, it just meant they didn't let themselves wallow. They were no good to anyone if they couldn't separate themselves from the pain and the despair. They still felt it – he _always_ felt it – but they had to move on. During the war, after he had lost Bucky, he'd wanted to give up. He'd sat in a bar trying to get drunk while bombs fell around him. He hadn't cared if the bombs hit him because Bucky was gone and the grief was more than he could handle. Then Peggy had walked into the bar and told him to respect Bucky's choice, respect his death and what he'd died for. She'd told him to keep fighting and he did. Moving on wasn't easy and the pain never really went away when it was someone you cared about who was dead, but he'd saved a lot of lives despite the pain. He'd kept going. A lot of people had moved on after the war, gone back to their families and never taken a life again. Being an Avenger meant there would always be another life lost, always be another enemy to fight. It was easy to get caught up in the despair of having no end, no peace, no true victory, but they did it nonetheless.

The beach was crowded when they arrived in southwest Brooklyn, and it felt good to be around people who were simply happy and carefree. Steve had been to Coney Island with Bucky a few times growing up. He remembered playing the arcades trying to win a prize and riding the Ferris wheel. He remembered Bucky flirting with girls while he'd shyly stood by, wishing their eyes didn't pass right over him. It had changed but it was still infused with the same whimsical energy he remembered from before. Aspen held his hand as they walked past the storefronts. They bought ice cream and sat on a bench, trying to eat it before the sun melted it. She pulled him toward the Ferris wheel where they could see the entire peninsula from the top. There was nothing hurried or pressing, and Steve felt himself relax. It was easy to get caught up in this life, easy to forget to slow down.

They sat on the beach as the sun set, and Aspen snapped a picture of them to commemorate the day. Yesterday had been difficult and tomorrow could hold anything, but they'd allowed themselves a small bit of happiness, and their shoulders felt lighter. As they drove home in the dark, Aspen fell asleep in the seat, her lips turned up in a smile. She held the stuffed horse Steve had won for her at one of the arcade games. So maybe perfect didn't really exist, but the end of that day felt somewhere close to it.


	47. Hate Crimes

**Author's Note:** Sorry I took so long to update! I got caught up in Christmas and then spent some time working on my books. I've just got one more chapter after this and then we'll move on to part four and Civil War!

* * *

 **44 – Hate Crimes – July 28, 2015**

"Did you get the mothballs out of the suit?" Aspen asked Steve as he attempted to tie his black bowtie. The opening of the museum exhibit in Boston was tonight and after a harrowing week, it felt good to have something else to focus on. Aspen came over and gently pushed his hands away, tying the bowtie for him.

"How do you know how to do that?" he asked, adjusting the sleeves on his suit. He wasn't entirely comfortable in the stiff black tuxedo, but the museum opening was a little fancier than he'd been expecting. He was already nervous about the speech he was giving though he'd written it all down earlier.

"Tony taught me. I don't really know why. He thought it was important at the time." She shrugged a shoulder. She was wearing a navy blue dress that had one wide strap across her left shoulder and glimmered like it was infused with tiny diamonds. She'd pulled her hair back in a low bun and donned silver, dangly earrings. She wore a little more make up than usual, her green eyes bold outlined in black.

"What?" she asked, her lips rising in a smile.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "I'm glad you're coming."

"Like I'd leave you to the whims of rich sponsors and overly-enthusiastic curators," she said, looking appalled at the thought. It was good to hear her joke again. Since her breakdown earlier that week, she'd been working on controlling her emotions. Instead of bottling them up until they bubbled over, she was more open, talking to him and Wanda about what was going on in her head. She'd spoken to Clint on the phone for several hours and then her mom after that. She'd already started negotiating an official headquarters for the Inhumans with Tony and had visited all of the Inhumans who had been hospitalized after the explosion.

The lead they had on Rumlow led to an arms dealer whose underground operation had been exposed in a violent heist. Rumlow had gotten away with the weapons and now that they knew they were being sold or distributed to groups like the Watchdogs, they doubled their efforts to find him. The media had still been buzzing over the attack and the Inhumans, but Steve hoped it would die down soon.

"Ready?" Aspen asked, reaching down to stroke Phoenix before the cat could come rub her fur all over Steve's black pants.

"Yeah."

Sam and Vision were playing a game of chess in the lounge while Wanda and Natasha watched from across the room. Files were strewn over the coffee table, and Steve could see they'd been busy trying to track Rumlow. It seemed like every time they followed a lead it led them nowhere. He'd visited the site of Rumlow's most recent robbery, but the only thing anyone could tell him was that the man everyone was calling Crossbones and his men had come in shooting and left the scene in a yellow moving van. Steve had to keep reminding himself that Rumlow had worked for SHIELD and Hydra. He was a trained agent, and covering his tracks would be second nature.

"Off to the museum opening?" Sam asked as he looked up from his chess match. "I thought you were wearing the suit."

"I'm wearing _a_ suit. I'm going as Steve Rogers, not as Captain America," Steve told him.

"I did offer to dress in a matching outfit, but he didn't go for it," Aspen said.

"Got an inspiring speech planned out? I bet you'll make the audience cry," Sam teased. "You should publish a book with all your motivational speeches."

"I quoted him the other day at the grocery store and people looked at me like I was off my rocker," Aspen said. "But I don't think I delivered it quite as well."

"If you're all done poking fun," Steve said, pulling his keys out of his pocket. "We should get going."

"You know we do it because we're all in complete awe and admiration of you, right?" Aspen said, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.

"Is that it?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Good luck," Sam called after him.

It was a two and a half hour drive to Boston, but they made it with a little time to spare, finding the museum and a place to park. It was a warm evening, so they walked around a little before checking in at the museum. The curator greeted them enthusiastically, shaking Steve's hand a little too long.

"I'm Gideon Masters. It is a _pleasure_ to meet you," he said. "I was thrilled that you accepted my invitation. And this must be the enchanting Mrs. Rogers." He turned to Aspen who colored a little at his enthusiasm.

"That's me," she said, taking his hand.

"We're honored to be here," Steve said, looking around the museum exhibit. He was relieved to see there was just as much about World War II and the Howling Commandos as him. The exhibit seemed to focus more on the history and the soldiers. It hadn't stopped feeling surreal seeing his picture in museums. There was one of him standing with the Howling Commandos. Bucky was there by his side, smiling, happy. Steve's heart clenched a little. He felt Aspen slide her hand into his as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Guests will be arriving soon. Feel free to look around until then. Your seats are reserved in front," he said, gesturing to the name placards saving their spots. "I'll introduce you to cue you for your speech." He moved off to let them look. The exhibit was nicely arranged and featured a variety of war heroes and heroines. He stopped short at the display for Peggy. The information spoke of her efforts in the war, of her rescue of Doctor Erskine and her involvement in Project Rebirth. It went on to talk about her role as a founder of SHIELD and her efforts to keep fighting Hydra after the war. His eyes snagged on a quote below a picture of her standing next to Howard Stark. ' _I know my value. Anyone else's opinion doesn't really matter_.' He smiled at this, remembering the time when Peggy had come to Italy without permission to see him and then helped him go behind enemy lines to save the One Hundred and Seventh regiment. Everything seemed so much simpler then, he realized now.

"We should find our seats," Aspen said a few minutes later as people began filing into the room. She looked a little jittery, and he twined his fingers through hers. A few hundred people had gathered by the time Gideon Masters took the stage. Steve felt a few butterflies in his stomach at the thought of getting up and giving a speech. "Better you than me," Aspen said as if reading his mind. "The thought of facing all those people makes me nervous, and I'm not even the one giving the speech."

"I hope I can do it justice," he said, doubts tugging at his mind.

"Of course you will," she assured him. "You always do. Just be yourself. Tonight isn't about holding yourself to other peoples' expectations – it's about telling them a little of your story and recognizing those who fought in the war."

He nodded. He'd written a speech a few days before, committing it to memory and reading it aloud to Sam and Aspen to see what they thought. Despite everything he'd been through, giving a speech was still daunting. Gideon Masters took the stage after everyone was seated, and the crowd fell silent.

"Thank you for being here tonight," he said into the microphone. "Thank you for all of your contributions. They've made this exhibit possible. I could stand up here and talk about it, but I think you'll all agree that it would be much more interesting coming from a man who experienced the war firsthand. I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to Captain Steve Rogers as he joins us tonight to talk a little about the war." Gideon started a round of applause, and Aspen squeezed Steve's arm before he stood and took the stage. Gideon shook his hand again and moved to the side. Steve waited for the applause to die, taking a deep breath.

"It's an honor to be here," Steve said, "and to talk to you a little bit about some of my experiences in the war. Despite it being a long time ago, it wasn't all that long for me. Sometimes it still seems like yesterday that I was fighting alongside the Howling Commandos. Back in the forties, enlisting was a big deal for boys my age. It was a sort of rite of passage and once they got in, they were well on their way to becoming men. They wore their uniforms with pride and gave their girlfriends pictures of themselves wearing them. It was exciting, an adventure, a chance to make their mark on the world. Just watch any newsreel from when America was just joining the war. There were smiles on their faces when they waved goodbye to their families from the ships. They were still boys." He paused. The room was completely silent, all eyes on him. "They train you to fight, to shoot, to kill, but it doesn't really sink in until you're there in the trenches or on the battlefield with your fellow soldiers falling around you or until you make your first kill. I wasn't there after the war, but I've seen pictures and old newsreels, and you can see what these men have experienced in their eyes. They have this haunted look that never really fades. That's war. That's what it is to be a soldier. You go out there to try to make a difference in the world, but you come back with burdens on your shoulders and ghosts in your nightmares. You come home, or get thawed out after seven decades as the case may be, and people – _strangers_ – shake your hand, they thank you for your service, they call you a hero. I didn't go over there to become a hero, but I met a lot of heroes when I was over there.

"The biggest question I think a soldier can ask himself is 'did I make a difference?' It's frightening to think that you don't have the power to affect the outcome of the war on your own, but that's why soldiers fight together. Having a team you can rely on, soldiers who have your back, made all the difference for me in the war. I know I wouldn't be half the man I am today without the Howling Commandos. They taught me so many valuable lessons. I wish they could be here tonight. Dum Dum Dugan would be looking forward to the open bar afterwards. Falsworth would have a witty story to tell. Jones, Morita, Dernier…Bucky." He paused for a second, and Aspen smiled encouragingly at him. "I wasn't there when the war was won, and I'm sorry I missed it, but they didn't need super soldiers to triumph against the Axis powers. They didn't need me to defeat Hitler. The war was won by men, by soldiers, by heroes. Our lives would be a lot different now if so many men – and women – hadn't been willing to fight and serve. Their sacrifice is what ensured our freedom. It's our job now to keep their stories alive, to honor their memory and their sacrifices. Thank you for keeping those memories alive."

He stepped back from the microphone and the crowd burst into applause. Aspen stood, and the others followed. He smiled in thanks before shaking Gideon's hand again.

"Wonderful speech," Gideon told him. "I do hope you'll stick around for a little while. I know some of the guests have been wanting to talk to you."

"Of course." He left the stage, rejoining Aspen who squeezed his hand.

"That was really beautiful," she said. "Just like the other fifty versions I heard."

"I just wanted to make sure it was right."

"Well, it was. Ready to mingle?" she asked. He knew she got nervous around crowds of people, but tonight she looked relaxed – the attention wasn't on her after all.

Steve tugged at his collar. "As ready as I'll ever be."

There was an open bar and hor d'oeuvres and champagne were being served by waiters dressed in black. "Fancy," Aspen said, politely declining a glass of champagne. "Here comes your first fan."

Steve turned to see a middle-aged woman and her husband approaching. The man wore a crisp military suit decorated with several medals. "I'm Margaret Downwood, and this is my husband Leonard. He served in the Vietnam War. We were so honored to be here for your speech."

Steve shook both their hands. "Thank you for being here," he said. "It was an honor to be invited to speak."

"You're a lucky lady," Mrs. Downwood said to Aspen who blushed.

"I pinch myself constantly," she said, "but I haven't woken up yet." The Downwoods chuckled, and Aspen's smile became a little more genuine.

The next hour continued similarly with hands to shake and compliments to graciously accept. He met a couple of World War II veterans and answered a lot of questions. Surprisingly most people asked about his time as a soldier and not his time as Captain America. He'd been expecting a barrage of questions involving the Avengers and Tony Stark, but the focus was on the war and the soldiers who had served.

When it was over, Steve and Aspen walked back to the car, enjoying the cool night air. There was a vibe of contentment that had settled over them as if things were finally stable. Aspen seemed happy, and there was a palpable change over her. She was no longer the insecure, unhappy girl who'd locked herself away and shut him out. Walls had been broken down, and it was as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Everyone had to reach a low before they could climb back up again. The life they lived was full of pressures and difficult choices, and sometimes you didn't walk away feeling confident or good about yourself. Sometimes you couldn't save everyone, but you could feel the burden of their lives no matter how hard you tried to save them.

They had a reservation at a hotel room, but as Steve started the engine, Aspen put a hand on his arm. "Wait." She was looking down at her phone, eyes wide. "Check your phone," she said. The moment had cracked and shattered, and somehow Steve knew real life was already calling them back into the fray.

He pulled his phone from his pocket. He'd turned it off for the museum opening but now as the screen powered to life, a barrage of messages crowded the screen. Aspen turned her phone to him and started up a news video. WHiH was covering a story. A reporter stood in front of a smoking building. Emergency responders were on the scene, and it looked as if body bags were being rolled toward an ambulance in the background.

"We're here at the scene of what's being called an Inhuman hate crime. The crime, this time, is _against_ humans. Today at 7:52 pm, phone calls came in about screams and flashes of what looked like lightning from inside an empty storefront in Brooklyn, New York. Police arrived on scene to find a dozen dead bodies, each seemingly electrocuted. Evidence was gathered around the building to imply that these people were part of the anti-Inhuman group known as the Watchdogs. Police have stated that the causes are not natural, and the Inhumans are currently the only suspects in the case. Protestors have already gathered outside of Avengers Tower, insisting that the Inhumans don't have the right to bypass the laws to get justice. Others call out to the Avengers, protesting their continued protection of the Inhumans. So far none of the Avengers have responded."

Aspen stopped the video. "They were electrocuted," she said softly. "It wasn't just an attack, it was an execution."

"Those must have been the Watchdogs who attacked the Inhuman base."

"Amber got her revenge." They sat in silence for a moment. "We need to get home," Aspen said. It was well after ten o'clock, and they wouldn't be able to do much by the time they got there, but he knew neither of them were going to get any sleep tonight.

"Can you cancel our reservations?" Steve asked, putting the car in drive and pulling away from the curb.

Aspen nodded and made the call. "I'm going to call Tony and tell him we're headed back," she said after she'd spoken to the hotel.

Tony sounded harried when he answered. Aspen put her phone on speaker so that Steve could join the conversation. "Are you seeing the news?" Tony asked.

"Yes. We're headed back now," Aspen told him.

"Good. We need to talk when you get here. Can you swing by the Tower? Go in the back door. The protestors seem to be taking up residence outside."

"So we saw on the news," Steve said.

"They're not leaving."

"We're on our way. We'll sort this out," he said, but even he didn't sound confident. He looked over at Aspen who was staring straight ahead. He knew how much she wanted things to be right with the Inhumans, but what they had done…that wasn't something they could brush under the rug. People had died and even if they'd been bad people, this wasn't the way they handled situations. If they killed for revenge, then what differentiated them from the bad guys? It wasn't black and white, but killing in cold blood crossed a line. The Avengers couldn't be seen as protecting Amber's team if Amber herself had killed those men. He understood the need for revenge, but the Inhumans were already a point of controversy with the public. If people called for their arrest, then Steve wasn't sure how much he and his team could protect them. The Watchdogs would work harder to hurt the Inhumans and turn people against them.

"Why would she do this?" Aspen asked. "She's ruined her team's chance at ever being heroes. People won't support them after this. People don't care who they killed, just that they killed someone with unnatural powers."

"Amber didn't think anyone else was going to punish those men for what they did to her people," Steve said. "But she shouldn't have taken the law into her own hands."

"Isn't that what we do?" Aspen asked. "How are the Avengers any different?"

"Because we don't just murder people. We seek justice. We protect people."

"But we've killed before. We've all killed before."

"It's different." But was it? They'd taken down Hydra agents before. The Watchdogs were a terrorist group – was killing them any different than killing a Hydra agent? "We don't murder people." There was a difference between killing someone in self-defense or to save someone's life, but what Amber had done was for revenge. Maybe she was trying to protect Inhumans but, in doing so, she'd only enraged the other Watchdogs out there in the world. Hate crimes against Inhumans would only increase.

"Those men did though. They attacked the Inhumans. Would someone have gotten justice for the Inhumans that died? As far as I can tell, there was no investigation after the attack on the Inhuman base. Sam told me how the police were treating Amber and her team until you told them they were under your protection. No one was looking out for them, so Amber did what she had to do to ensure her team's safety."

"It doesn't make what she did right," Steve told her.

"I know." Aspen's voice broke. "I know."


	48. Taking a Stand

**45 – Taking a Stand – July 29, 2015**

There were still a few protestors outside the Tower when they arrived back in New York. As Tony had suggested, they headed toward a back entrance, leaving the car a block away. Aspen was trying not to let the anger she felt toward the protestors turn to hatred. They were frightened. They didn't understand. Now they'd never give the Inhumans a chance. At least not Amber and her team.

Their efforts to reach the Tower unnoticed were thwarted when a woman recognized them, approaching with a hostile expression on her face. Aspen looked up at the top of the Tower and wished she had Thor's powers so she could fly away. She looked back down as the woman started a tirade.

"Are you here to arrest those monsters? Next thing you know they'll be killing people just for looking at them wrong! They could be anywhere. If we don't stop them, they'll take over the world."

"That's a far-fetched and ignorant idea," Aspen said, gritting her teeth. "The Inhumans are not monsters, and they have no intention of taking over the world."

The woman flared up, and Steve put a hand on Aspen's arm, warning her to back off. "You're no better," the woman said, taking a step closer. "You think you're so much better than the rest of us."

"I really don't."

"We're here to deal with the situation," Steve put in. The woman glanced at him, but then turned back to Aspen.

"Unnatural," she said. "All of you."

"It's thanks to unnatural people that you still have a city to live in," Aspen snapped. "The Inhumans have just as much potential for good if people would just give them a chance." She hadn't realized she'd drawn a crowd until a couple of people across the street began to clap. One of them was holding a phone, and Aspen had the sinking feeling that he was filming the whole argument.

"Let's go," she said, pulling Steve toward the Tower. They didn't bother with a back entrance, using the front doors instead. A few protestors camped outside booed them, and Aspen felt her cheeks flame with anger.

Frustration replaced the anger as they took the elevator up. Already people were turning against the Inhumans, protesting their existence. Why would Amber ruin her team's chances at being heroes? They were just starting to gain some ground, but now they'd all be forced to continue hiding in the shadows for their own safety.

The elevator chimed as it reached the lounge, and Aspen felt the tension that had sprung up in her shoulders grow in intensity. As the doors slid open, Aspen stepped into a room that reflected that same tension. Tony stood talking on his phone while Amber and her team sat stiffly in the chairs behind him. They looked up when Aspen and Steve entered the room, and Amber stood, her eyes expectant. Aspen didn't know what to say. She wanted to ask Amber what she'd been thinking, wanted to ask her what exactly she thought would happen to her team, but she didn't want to shout, didn't want to argue. She knew exactly why Amber had done what she had done, and Aspen couldn't swear that she hadn't done the same. She remembered the Hydra agent in New Jersey. She remembered Joseph Danners. She knew what it was to lose control though nothing about Amber's actions had been unplanned. She hadn't been out of control because she'd known exactly what she was doing.

"Good. You're here," Tony said, hanging up with whomever he'd been speaking to. "It's a mess," he told them. "We could have taken a team in and taken those men into custody, but sparky over here had to go and take matters into her own hands." Amber blanched at the nickname but said nothing.

"We can smooth this over," Steve said, but Aspen could tell by his tone that he wasn't sure how.

"We can't be seen helping them anymore," Tony voiced Aspen's fears. "We need to be seen as a law-abiding team that people can trust."

"Those men were murderers!" Aspen defended.

Tony's eyes flashed to her. "Those men would have been taken into custody for their crimes. We don't just kill people for revenge. How would that make us any different from them?"

"If we turn our backs on the Inhumans then what's keeping the world from seeing them _all_ as the bad guys?" Aspen asked him. "They won't ever be accepted."

"I can't help that," Tony said. She thought she heard a hint of regret in his voice. She knew he meant well despite his harsh words.

"So what? We turn them in? Call the ATCU to take them off our hands?" Amber tensed, and Aspen knew she'd put up a fight before letting a government organization take her and her team.

"They can't stay here," Tony said. He turned to look at Amber. "You need to leave. We can't be accountable for your actions anymore."

Amber gave him a stiff nod. "I understand," she said.

"Where will you go?" Aspen asked. She looked around the room at the frightened faces.

"I don't know," Amber said. "Somewhere safe. Lily will get us out without being seen. You can have your reputation back." Aspen felt something breaking at her words.

"You know I care more about your safety than our reputation," she said.

"I'm sure you do." She didn't sound convinced. She motioned toward the window. "Your fans out there seem to have figured out the same thing."

"I'll smooth things out," Tony replied. "After you're gone."

"Can't we do something to help them?" Aspen asked, taking a step toward Tony.

"Haven't we helped them enough?" he asked.

"Since when did you care more about your reputation than helping people?" she asked spitefully. "Is that really all that's important to you anymore? How the public views us? You're not even on the team anymore!" It was an argument they'd had before, and Tony looked exhausted at the prospect of having it again.

"They turn against us, and we can't help anyone," he said, simply. "I'm going to make a statement first thing in the morning. Either you can come down and support me, or you can go home." He moved toward the elevator but then hesitated, turning back. "I'm sorry."

"We can fix this," Aspen insisted, but Tony just ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.

"You can't fix it," Amber said. "It's time we went our separate ways. You fight for justice in the eyes of the public, but sometimes you can't defeat evil and worry about your reputation."

"That's a hard life to live – working in the shadows."

Amber shook her head. "It's easier not to care what other people think as long as you know you're fighting for the right thing," she said. "That's the difference between a vigilante and a hero. I guess I just wasn't cut out to be a hero." She turned away and gathered the Inhumans around where Lily stood. Lily gave Aspen a sad look before taking a group of Inhumans to an unknown place. "Good luck," Amber said. "I'm sorry for any trouble my team has caused you." When Lily returned for the rest, Amber went with her, not looking back.

"That can't be it," Aspen said, staring at the place where the Inhumans had once stood.

"They made their choice," Steve told her.

"No, _she_ made their choice," Aspen said angrily. "She made them outcasts the second she took down those Watchdogs."

"Do you want to stay the night and hear Tony's statement to the press tomorrow?" Steve asked her. "Or would you rather go home? I know you feel helpless right now, but you did everything you could to help them. Amber made her choice. It's up to her to keep her team safe now."

"I want to stay," Aspen said.

"Okay. I'll get our bags from the car so you don't have to sleep in that dress." Aspen didn't think she could sleep, but she nodded. "I'll be right back."

Aspen sat down on one of the couches. The Tower had once been home but now it felt desolate, unwelcoming. Tony had disappeared somewhere, and she felt a low-burning anger toward him. He could have at least let the Inhumans stay until morning. She wondered what he'd say tomorrow. It should be Steve making the statement. He was the leader of the Avengers now, not Tony, but Tony always insisted on having his way.

Aspen lay down on the couch despite how uncomfortable she was in her dress. She felt a sudden wave of exhaustion, but her mind was wide awake. When Steve returned, they went to their old room – still ready for them to stay in should they choose. Aspen walked around the room, tracing her fingers over the walls as if she could pull the memories from them. Somehow it just wasn't home anymore. She changed into pajamas and curled up under the blankets despite the warm night. The air conditioning kept the Tower cool, and Aspen couldn't seem to stop shivering. Somehow she managed to sleep because the next thing she knew, Steve was shaking her awake.

"Hey, Tony needs to talk to us before his statement," he said.

Aspen nodded. She quickly dressed and checked her reflection in the mirror. Her makeup from the night before was smudged, and she rubbed a finger under her eye and tidied her hair until she looked presentable. She felt like she needed a long shower and a decent meal, but those would have to wait.

Tony was waiting for them in the lounge, dressed for the public in a tidy suit and tie. Despite his clean look, there were bags under his eyes, and he looked as if he hadn't slept at all the night before. He didn't speak, just held out his phone to show them a video. Aspen felt her heart sink. It was a video of her arguing with the woman the night before. She heard herself call the woman's ideas ignorant and turned away.

"Do you have any idea how bad this looks?" Tony asked. "When did this happen?"

"Last night before we got here. I was just trying to stand up-"

"You were trying to be right," Tony interrupted. "You had to be right. You had to rise to the bait, and you got caught doing it on camera. This is all over the Internet. People are calling you an 'Inhuman sympathizer.'"

"Well, they're not wrong."

"They aren't differentiating your sympathy of the Inhumans and your sympathy toward their actions. People are saying you were somehow involved with what happened to the Watchdogs."

"What? That's insane! I was at a museum in Boston!" Aspen protested. "There are plenty of witnesses."

Tony held up a hand as if to pacify her. "I know, but people don't care about that. They see what they want to see. This escalated really quickly."

"Okay, so make a statement. Tell them that they're wrong about me being involved."

Tony gave her a hard look. "I'm not going to make the statement," he said.

"What do you mean? You have to-"

"You are." His words hung in the air, and Aspen stared at him, waiting for him to say he was joking. There was nothing funny about this situation though, and he looked dead serious.

"Did I mishear you?" Aspen asked.

"You didn't. If I give the statement, it will look like I'm protecting you. It needs to be you. But you need to make a choice, Aspen. You can't go out there and tell them the Inhumans are harmless and that you full-heartedly support them. This isn't about standing up for the Inhumans or the team's reputation," Tony said. "You're making a public statement, and you need to know where you stand. Are you a vigilante or a hero? Do you condone the murder of people – even terrorists like the Watchdogs – or do you believe in the justice system?"

"Tony, this isn't fair," Steve said, stepping between them. "You know how she feels about getting up in front of people, and the people out there are not going to be kind. This isn't on her."

"There comes a point in life where you have to get over your fears." Tony kept his gaze on Aspen. "You're an Avenger. You can't be afraid of getting up in front of people and telling them what you stand for, but you also can't go out there if you have even one doubt because they will eat you alive and spit out whatever's left. Trust me. I've been under the eyes of the press for a long time."

"You can't force me to go out there and speak," Aspen said, shrinking back.

"Tony, leave her alone." Steve's brow was furrowed, and Aspen was afraid he might take a swing at Tony if he continued to push her.

She shut her eyes a moment. She understood what Tony was asking of her, understood _why_ he was asking it. He and Steve began to argue, and Aspen tried to block them out to clear her thoughts. She'd unintentionally made the situation worse. Tony was giving her a chance to clear her name and maintain the team's reputation, but he was also giving her a chance to voice her beliefs. She wasn't going to go out there and tell the people what they wanted to hear – that the Inhumans were monsters and should be feared. But she could try to turn the tables a little.

"I'll do it," she said. Tony and Steve stopped arguing and turned in unison to look at her.

"Aspen, you don't have to," Steve said, but she shook her head.

"Yeah, I do. For myself as well. Tony's right-" Tony looked a little shocked at this. "-I need to stand up for what I believe in. I need to take a stand. But that doesn't involve discrediting the Inhumans. It means being honest."

Tony opened his mouth, but Aspen raised her hand to stop him. "I'm not going to go out there and tell the world that I don't support the Inhumans, but I can tell them that I don't condone what they did."

"That's all I'm asking," Tony said. "They just need to hear where you stand."

"Okay. Okay, I'll do it." She felt fear coursing through her, but pushed it aside. They took the elevator down, and as they neared the doors, Aspen could hear the crowds outside: the protestors, the reporters, the supporters. She could feel the blood draining from her face, feel her nerves fleeing her as if Lily had transported those away with the Inhumans. It would be easier to stay back behind closed doors where she was safe from the stares and the judgments of the people outside, but who was going to stand up for the Inhumans? Who was going to take a stand for justice? She didn't have to turn against the Inhumans to do so. She turned to look back at Steve and Tony.

"I didn't ask you to do this to punish you," Tony told her.

"I know."

"We'll be right behind you," Tony assured her, motioning to the doors. Aspen took a deep breath and pushed them open.

It took a second for people to notice that something was happening. Then cameras were flashing, and reporters were flooding her ears with questions. Police held the crowds back, and Aspen nearly froze at the sight of all the people. Protest signs were waved overhead, and supporters shouted out their love. It was both terrifying and encouraging.

Aspen stood there until the crowds and reporters quieted down. She was petrified with fear, but she forced herself to speak. "I'm here to make a statement," she said, her voice trembling, "about the recent attack on the Inhumans and the subsequent murder of the men known to work for a group called the Watchdogs." The silence continued, and she took that as a good sign. "For those of you who don't know, there was an attack on an Inhuman base a week ago. I know a lot of you are still questioning the Inhumans, whether they are something to fear or something to bring hope. I was there that day when the base was attacked. The Inhumans living there had nowhere else to go. They had been abandoned by family and friends, they had escaped human experimentation, they had been outcasts with nowhere to call home. That was their home. That was their safe place where they could learn to control their abilities and learn to not be a threat to themselves or anyone else. The Watchdogs are a terrorist group that believes all Inhumans to be evil. They attacked the base and set off explosives that killed several Inhumans and left others injured. I'm not here to tell you that what was done to these men last night was right. I don't condone murder even if the people who end up dead were murderers themselves. I do believe that the Inhumans acted out of defense. They don't have a lot of people to turn so they turn to each other. They protect their own kind. But they do not mean us harm. Like the Avengers, they're different. Like the Avengers, they don't really fit in anywhere besides their own people.

"I know there's a video going around where I don't put my best foot forward, and I'm sorry for that. I was upset because I know that the Inhumans are not something to fear despite their mistakes. They did not choose to be different. Some were forced, given serums, experimented on. Not all of them are going to have good intentions just like not all humans do. They're not so different if you look past their abilities. They deserve a chance. I'm here to ask you to give them that chance. I'm also here to say that they are no longer under the protection of the Avengers. They are no longer safe behind the walls of this Tower. As an Avenger, I don't support their actions last night. I don't support revenge or murder. Despite that, I do believe in second chances. If we continue to hate, continue to persecute those who are different, those who have a power you don't understand, then we'll never achieve peace. This world is already messy enough. Why make it any messier? We all make mistakes, but one can learn from mistakes. I didn't get to where I am today by being perfect. I got where I am by stumbling around making hundreds of mistakes but never losing sight of who I wanted to be. The Inhumans don't have to be any different. Please find it in your hearts to give them a second chance and to fight against hatred. Fight it with kindness and generosity. You don't have to be an Avenger to be a hero."

As soon as she stopped talking, the press started buzzing with questions. Tony stepped forward, and she let him. Her energy was spent, and her hands began to tremble.

"That was well said," Steve said softly into her ear. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. I thought I might collapse, but I think I can make it a few more minutes," she said shakily. She wanted to turn and flee back into the Tower, but she forced herself to stand until Tony was done answering questions. She didn't register the questions being asked or the answers being given, but as Tony ushered them back inside the Tower, she felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She took a shaky breath and turned to Tony.

"That was well done," he said after a moment. "I'm sorry I pushed you. I just needed to make sure you knew where you stood."

"I know that my heart sometimes conflicts with what we do. Heart is what it takes to save people, but sometimes there are situations that blur the lines. I can't rush headlong into things like I used to. There has to be a line. Amber crossed a line, and I'm sorry she did. I also understand why she did it. I just hope she can forgive us for turning her away."

"I hope so too." Tony shook his head. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."

"Then we handle it," Steve said. "As a team, like we always do."

Tony nodded. "Whatever comes, we'll weather it."

"It's time we headed home," Steve said, looking at Aspen. She knew she must look pale and exhausted.

"How did the speech go?" Tony asked. "Last night at the museum. I forgot to ask with everything…"

"It went well, I think." Steve looked over at Aspen. "It was nice to take a step back from reality and focus on the past for a few hours."

"Keep me updated," Tony said, already walking away. Aspen watched him go, frowning a little. He seemed different…more serious, more tense. She wondered if he and Pepper had had a fight or if retirement just wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Steve retrieved their bags, and they made it to their car without being noticed this time. Aspen was relieved to see the compound when they reached it, jumping out of the car before it was fully stopped. Wanda was in the lounge, and she came forward when Aspen entered, her eyes full of worry. Aspen crossed the room and let Wanda fold her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asked, hugging Aspen tightly. "We saw the news."

Aspen nodded mutely. She was aware of Steve entering behind her, but he left her and Wanda to talk. She heard Sam greet him down the hall in Steve's office.

"I feel like I abandoned them," Aspen said. Despite trying to stand up for the Inhumans, she felt like she'd failed them. "If I'd done more after the attack… I was a mess though. So selfish."

"None of this was your fault," Wanda told her firmly. "Amber has a mind of her own, and she was going to do whatever she wanted to do no matter what."

"You're right. I guess I just thought I could protect them but in the end, that wasn't really my job. They weren't my team, and I'm not one of them."

"But you understood them and you helped them multiple times. You were a friend to them when they had no one else."

"I think what bothers me the most is that I don't completely disagree with what Amber did. Those men were horrible people and no, they didn't deserve to die like that, but they did deserve to be brought to justice. There's this tiny part of me that thinks I would have done the same thing as Amber if I were in her shoes. I've lost control before. She might have been in total control, but I've killed people before because I lost control. I don't know which is worse…"

"You have a good heart. You make mistakes like you said. But you're in control now. You just have to trust yourself a little." Wanda pulled away, and Aspen nodded at her words.

"I just feel like I'm being torn in two directions. One part of me wants to take down the people who hurt without caring about justice or rules while the other part of me wants to uphold the law so people trust us. Why does that have to be two very different things?"

Wanda shrugged. "It's not easy. Nothing about what we do is easy. We just do what we feel is right, and sometimes not everyone agrees on what that is."

"As long as we have each other," Aspen said with a small smile.

"Of course. We're a team," Wanda said, taking Aspen's hand and giving it a squeeze. "We're stronger together."

…

Aspen couldn't sleep again that night. She found herself on the roof in the fresh night air, leaning against the cement wall ran along it. It was like the calm after the storm being away from the media and the protestors. It was quiet out here, secluded. She felt as if nothing from the outside world could reach her. A stir in the air behind her made her turn.

Amber and Lily stood there. "I thought you were gone for good," Aspen said, surprised.

"Is that what you wanted?" Amber asked coolly.

"Of course not," Aspen told her. "I never wanted you to go."

"I heard your statement."

Aspen couldn't read her expression. "And?"

Amber cocked her head to the side as if she were trying to figure Aspen out. "If you stay on this team, your passion for saving people is only going to be stifled by laws and government organizations who want to tell you how to do your job. You're meant for more."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just something I overheard when we were at the Tower," Amber said. "Actually, it was Elise with her heightened hearing. Stark was talking on the phone with someone. She couldn't catch who he was talking to, but there have been threats to put a leash on the Avengers. One of these days someone is going to be calling you out. I'm here to offer you a place on my team. I know your life, your friends, your husband are here, but how long do you think this life can last?"

"Amber-" Lily protested, but Amber cut her off.

"She needs to hear this. This is reality. This, what you have here, is too good to last. I know you're trying to do good _and_ follow the law, but what's going to happen when you have to cross a line to save a life?"

"We cross lines every day. It's a matter of not crossing over too far," Aspen said. "There's a difference between breaking a few laws to save someone and murdering a dozen men in cold blood."

"I thought that might be your view on that."

"Those men were horrible people, but if we use that approach to eliminate them every time, then where does that leave us? Who do we become?" she asked.

"It was a message, not an approach," Amber told her. "The Watchdogs know what we're capable of now and what we'll do if they come after us again."

"It's going to be a bloodbath," Aspen warned her. "Don't do this."

"I'm not doing anything except protecting my people."

Aspen bowed her head. She wasn't going to argue even if she didn't completely agree with Amber's views. "I can't join you," she said. "I have my team right here. They're my family."

Amber nodded. "I understand. The offer stands if you ever change your mind. You could do great things, Aspen. I have no doubt you will. Just don't let anyone hold you back." She turned toward Lily. "It's time for us to part ways. You've done enough for us, and we've caused you enough trouble."

"Good luck." Aspen knew it was no use to try to convince Amber of anything just like Amber knew it was no use to keep trying to persuade Aspen to join her team.

Amber put a hand in Lily's, but turned back to Aspen before they disappeared. "You too," she said, and there was no animosity in her eyes. Then they vanished in a gust of wind, and Aspen was alone. Somehow she felt as if Amber had taken a pair of scissors and cut the string that had tied Aspen to the Inhumans. She still cared about them, but she was no longer responsible for their safety. She had her own team to protect, her own team to stand by. Together they were strong, and she couldn't imagine anything breaking them apart. Maybe people would try to control them, but they'd keep fighting to save people as they'd always done. Whatever the future held, they'd face it together, and that was a thought that made the unknown a little less frightening.


	49. Part Four: Divided We Fall

**Author's Note:** *takes a deep breath* So I know it's been awhile... I apologize for the really long break in between chapters. I just had the worst winter with depression, and then I got super busy with work. My manager took a month and a half off from work because of a family death, and I was practically running the store, doing the scheduling, etc. While working my other job. I could keep making up excuses, but I am presenting you with the prologue to part four! I have one chapter written past that. I am a horrible person. I will keep writing. I can't promise weekly updates, but I can promise to try my hardest! Hope you are all well. I am doing much better now that it's spring.

* * *

 **Part Four: Divided We Fall**

 **Prologue – June 5, 2016**

He'd gone off the grid twice before this, temporarily shaking Hydra's grasp. Neither time had lasted long. Hydra's reach seemed infinite, and he'd always find himself entangled in brainwashing and manipulation once again. For a long time this had been the only home he'd known. Most of the time his thoughts weren't his but Hydra's. Even now he didn't feel wholly _him_. Hydra's influence was still in his brain like a ticking time bomb. This time was different though. They hadn't come after him. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

He'd moved around at first, always looking over his shoulder. He couldn't shake his instincts even now that it had been two years since they'd messed with his brain. Two years since he'd dragged the man claiming to be his best friend from the waters of the Potomac. Assassins didn't feel. They didn't save lives. They didn't hesitate. Looking down at the man's face, bloodied black and blue by his 'friend's' fists, he _did_ hesitate. He did feel. He _remembered_. This man had been willing to die because he wouldn't fight his friend.

Bucky.

At first the name had sounded foreign to him. He'd been the Winter Soldier for so long that he'd forgotten he'd ever been someone else. Hydra had sucked the memories from him, had taken his identity, his past, his future. Even now that he was free of them, (could he ever truly be free?) he was still a fugitive. He had no place in this world.

Bucky. He'd seen the name in a museum, read his own history. It hadn't felt real and yet it felt right. It was as if a part of him that had been missing all these years had been put back into place. There were still missing pieces – chunks of time gone. He felt as if he'd arrived somewhere but had no recollection of having gotten there. He was trying though, keeping his memories in a journal, recording what he could about Bucky Barnes. There were other things too – mementos like a pamphlet from the Captain America exhibit in Washington DC, a flyer advertising Stark Industries, an old black and white photo of a group of people known as the Howling Commandos torn from a history book he'd found in a library. Until he could remember everything, he felt like an imposter in his own skin.

Despite the gaps, he couldn't shake the ever present familiarity of the man named Steve. They'd been childhood friends according to the museum exhibit. Sometimes Bucky would dream that he was a kid again, always with a skinny blonde kid with determined blue eyes. He'd read all about the Super Soldier serum that had transformed the sickly kid into Captain America, the hero of WWII and now part of the team known as the Avengers. Somehow they'd both made it to the future though they belonged in the past.

He paused, pen poised over the page in his journal where he'd been recounting a memory – at least he thought it was a memory. He'd been at some sort of expo crowded with couples and families. All the young men, himself included, were dressed head to toe in military khaki. Steve was with him but in civilian clothes. He'd already tried fives times to enlist but the answer was always the same: 4F. Despite the consistent failures, he decided to try one more time. Bucky had let him go believing, like the last five times, that he'd be rejected. The thought that his best friend would be safe at home was a comforting one. He'd never thought of Steve as fragile, never weak. But he was breakable, and Bucky wanted to protect him. How wrong he'd been.

Steve had always been unbreakable in spirit, and the serum had made his body just as unbreakable. It had made him the soldier he'd always been inside. When Bucky had seen his best friend again, he'd realized that Steve didn't need to be protected anymore. Suddenly Bucky wasn't sure what his role was. In the end, it was Bucky who had been lost, not Steve, and Bucky couldn't protect him from the pain of that.

He scribbled down the rest of the memory before shutting the journal and tucking it into a red backpack. If he had to run then he'd have his memories with him. He knew Steve had been looking for him. He wasn't sure why he didn't let him find him. He wasn't the same Bucky that Steve remembered. They couldn't just pick up where they'd left off. Bucky didn't know if he wanted to. He didn't know what he wanted which was why he ran. He ran away from his past, from his only friend, from any sort of future.

No one was telling him what to do or what to think. No one was scrambling his brain until he no longer knew who he was. And yet…had he really escaped Hydra? He couldn't ever erase the Winter Soldier. He couldn't ever erase what he'd done.

He buried his face in his hands. How could he pick up the pieces of his life when they were scattered so far? Perhaps he was destined to be a ghost, a figment of Hydra's past. Perhaps Bucky Barnes no longer existed.


	50. Prelude

**46 – Prelude – May 3, 2016**

"It's been ten months since Avenger Aspen Tolvar publically denounced her team's protection of the Inhumans. Since then, hate crimes have increased as more Inhumans make an appearance in the world. A rogue group of Inhumans has been fighting crime along the east coast, and it seems as if they've waged their own war against the terrorist group known as the Watchdogs. There have been half a dozen civilian casualties since the rogue group first made an appearance last fall. Many people are calling the Avengers to action against the Inhumans, but though they are no longer protecting them, the Avengers have made no move to stop them."

Aspen clicked off the television in her mom's apartment. Lately this was all the news was talking about, and it made her nervous to show her face in public. People were desperate to place the blame somewhere, and somehow most of it had ended up on her team's shoulders. It made what she was about to do even more terrifying.

"Are you ready?" Aspen looked up to find her mom standing in the doorway, dressed in a black skirt and white button up shirt. Aspen herself had donned a deep blue dress - nothing too fancy - and a pair of black heels.

"Ready." She forced herself to feel confident. It wasn't like she was making a speech in front of the entire world or even the press, although the local news reporters would be there. She was giving a speech at her old high school in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the first time she'd been back since she'd graduated, and she'd never thought she'd be invited back to give a motivational speech to the students. They'd reached out to her out of the blue, approaching her mother first and asking her to relay the invitation. The thought had terrified her at first, but then she'd realized that she had been given an opportunity to reach out to a younger generation. She didn't want to be aloof and unreachable - she wanted people to know she cared. That's why she did what she did. Not for the glory or the attention – never for the attention. The recent limelight had awakened Aspen's anxieties. She was recognized on the streets now nearly every time she went out, and she finally had her own merchandise. Lady America. She hadn't picked it, but she had to admit she didn't hate it. She'd first seen her action figure in the window of a comic book store. The likeness was uncanny. She had her own symbol too: a single navy star in a thin circle. Not completely original, but she didn't really care. She didn't have the defining shield or bow or hammer. Even though she was used to seeing her teammates as figurines and their faces on lunchboxes, seeing herself was surreal. She didn't feel like she was cool enough for that, but she must have made an impression somewhere along the line. Her press statement last summer had certainly caused a stir. Since then the appearance of Inhumans had become more common, and the subsequent reaction had been alarming. Aspen had tried to stay as involved as she could, but the government had all but shut them out.

The ITCU, despite their initial outreach toward the Avengers had gone silent after a few months, and Aspen had learned frustratingly little about the Inhumans who the organization claimed they were helping. As far as Amber's group of now rogue Inhumans, there had been smatterings of rumors in the news, but very little solid evidence to give Aspen any idea of where they really were.

Ava had insisted on coming with Aspen to the school. She wanted to hear her speech and, though she didn't come out and say it, she was there to give Aspen the moral support she needed. Because getting up in front of crowds to speak still terrified her beyond anything else she'd ever dealt with. She'd take a dozen Ultrons and a couple Hydra agents over getting up in front of a crowd to make a speech. Shutting the car door behind her felt like she was sealing her fate - there was no turning back now.

"Have you got your notecards?" Ava asked, well knowing that Aspen didn't need them. Not really. With the Superhero Serum she could recall information like that with ease, but having the notecards to twist and turn in her sweaty fingers was a comfort.

"Right here." It wasn't a long speech. She just hoped it was a good one. If she could leave a good impression on at least one kid, then she guessed she was doing it right. Her phone buzzed from her purse and reminded her she needed to turn it off. She pulled it out to see that Steve was calling. Probably to wish her luck. "Hey," she said.

"I know you're about to go into your speech. I just needed to call you to tell you we have a lead," he said, sounding almost out of breath. "A lead on Bucky."

Aspen felt her own breath vanish in her lungs not so much from excitement but because she'd heard the words so many times before but so far none of the leads had turned up the missing Winter Soldier. "Another one?" She tried not to sound too hopeless, but this wasn't the first time he'd sounded so sure only to have the lead yield nothing but disappointment.

"I know." He let off a sigh, and she could hear the weariness in his voice. He wanted so badly for this to be _the_ lead.

"Where?" Bucky had led them, whether knowingly or not, all around the globe following dead ends and false leads. None of the leads ever led home. Back to Brooklyn. It's like Bucky was afraid to come home if he even remembered where home was. With Hydra gone or at least not controlling Bucky's mind (they hoped), he was on his own. But if he was free of their control, why hadn't he let Steve find him? That led to a myriad of thoughts and guilt, and she knew Steve partially blamed himself, but it was impossible to protect someone when that someone didn't even want to be found.

"Lagos, Nigeria." That sounded far-stretched; a hope that wasn't really a hope. Aspen didn't say so though. She always supported Steve in trying to find Bucky and helped him whenever she could. Even if it were false hope, it would be remiss not to chase it after all. Steve would always try to find Bucky; it wasn't negotiable.

"Do you want me to fly back?"

"No. No, you give your speech. I'm taking Sam, Nat, and Wanda with me."

"Good. Wanda needs a mission to test her training. She's ready." They'd been training harder than ever together and though the team dynamics were still different, they were a good sort of different. Aspen would be the first to admit that she didn't like change. It heightened her anxieties and left her feeling defenseless. The team was her family, and when people had started leaving, it seemed like her whole world was caving in. Despite the fact that some of the changes were good – her marriage for instance – her self-doubt had raged for months. While she'd stayed with her mother, she'd had her look further into the long-term affects of the Superhero Serum. No one had ever had the serum in their system for as long as Aspen had, so it wasn't really known whether there were any side effects. Ava had run tests and concluded that Aspen was perfectly healthy but that the heightened senses might cause her to feel overwhelmed more often than usual. The normal emotions she felt on a day-to-day basis were accentuated by the serum. To put it simply, she felt _more_. When she doubted herself, her mind could recall everything she had to doubt. When she felt angry, it was difficult not to lose control. When she felt happy, it flooded her like a storm. And when she couldn't save someone...it felt like the guilt might crush her.

"It's all a matter of putting things into perspective," her mom had told her. "Think it through. Your brain might be telling you to feel all these things in ten fold, but what's the use in letting guilt weigh you down when it's not really your fault? When you feel yourself start to overload, just let go." Aspen had worked on breathing exercises. She'd trained. And when something felt like too much, she opened up to someone.

"Communication is key." Ava knew how Aspen was prone to bottling up her own emotions. "When you feel something, let someone who cares about you know. Steve is always there for, and you have an entire team of friends who understand. And you can always call me, of course." Her mom didn't know if there were any other effects of the serum. She didn't know if it was permanent though she had once told Aspen it might become that way. It was something she and Wanda connected on though Wanda had chosen to be experimented on. They trained together frequently, each testing the limits of their abilities. For once Aspen didn't feel afraid of her powers. She felt like a part of something.

"I hope he's there," she said, drawing herself back to the conversation with Steve. "I hope you find him."

He was quiet for a moment. "I hope so too. I'll keep you updated. Good luck with your speech."

"Thanks. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Did something happen?" Ava asked, glancing sideways at Aspen.

"They have another lead on Bucky," she told her mom. "In Nigeria. Who knows if it's any more certain than any of the other dozens of leads we've already followed. I just hate seeing him disappointed over and over. I don't understand why Bucky won't let himself be found."

"Maybe he's afraid of what Steve will think of him after what he did as the Winter Soldier."

"Steve would never think differently of him."

"No, but if Bucky remembers who he is, _he'll_ think differently of himself." It was true. Bucky had been a sergeant in the war. He'd been one of the good guys. What had happened to him...he didn't deserve that. He couldn't take back what he'd done under Hydra's influence, but he could move forward.

"Maybe it's not that simple," Aspen said softly. "What he's done...that information is out there. Hydra's files leaked. He's probably wanted by the government. People will want him to pay for what he did even if it wasn't really him. They'll want to put the blame somewhere."

"Can the Avengers protect him?"

"We can, but people wouldn't approve. It would put us in a difficult position. Part of me wants to say, screw it. Bucky is way more important than what the government or anyone else thinks of us, but it's never that simple. If we harbor someone wanted for that many crimes, that many assassinations...they might come for us too, and we won't be able to protect anyone."

"So what happens if this isn't a false lead?" Ava asked.

"That's up to Steve, I suppose. He wants his friend back. He believes Bucky is still inside of him, that he can be saved. He wants it to be that simple. I just don't think it is."

They reached the school, and Aspen found she was no longer nervous about her speech. Now she was nervous about a whole array of problems all revolving around the Winter Soldier. She wanted Bucky back because it would make Steve happy, but she knew Steve could be blinded when it came to his friend. She didn't blame him, but she wasn't completely sure how far he'd go for Bucky. If it meant going against powerful people who wanted Bucky behind bars...well, she wasn't sure just what Steve would do.

The sight of her old school effectively distracted her, and Aspen tried to push her worries to the back of her mind. As they walked through the front doors, memories pressed up against her, some bad, some neutral. She couldn't say she had any really good memories of high school. She was quiet, kept to herself. She spent a lot of free time in the science lab and library. Pretty enough not to get picked on, plain enough not to be noticed. She hadn't really made friends. Her home life had been tense with her aunt and her drinking problems, and she'd had little patience for the petty problems of teenagers. Now looking down the linoleum hallways and past the dented lockers, Aspen felt a twinge of nostalgia. There was a before and an after for people like her. Before she was famous, before the world knew her name, and now. In a world of paparazzi and internet hoaxes, she wasn't sure she wanted anyone's attention to be on her, but that came hand-in-hand with being an Avenger these days. There was no turning back from the world knowing who she was.

A man was waiting to greet them at the doors to the auditorium, and Aspen did a double take. He'd grayed at the temples and bore a few more worry lines around his eyes, but he was still wearing the same polka dot tie she remembered. "Principal Yancy," Aspen greeted before he could speak.

"You remember me." He looked surprised.

"I was never in your office," Aspen told him with a smile, "but yeah, I remember you. It wasn't _that_ long ago."

"It's nice to see you again, Aspen." He shook her hand and then her mother's. "Thank you again for accepting our invitation. You're all the students can talk about these days."

"I'm honored," Aspen told him. "It still takes some getting used to."

"I can only imagine. As I asked in my letter, I was hoping you might talk a little about how you came to be an Avenger. How you got from here," he motioned to the halls of the school, "to here." He looked back to her. "The kids want to know they have potential. Even if they're not going to become a superhero, they want to know they can make a difference."

"Of course."

"Fantastic. Would you like a drink of water or anything?" When Aspen and her mom shook their heads, he said, "Great. I'll just have you come behind the stage. I'll announce you, and you can go out. Mrs. Tolvar, we have a seat saved for you right up front." They took the back way to the stage, and the principal ushered her mom to her seat before taking the stage. Aspen peered out from the shadows, her stomach dropping a little at the sight of all the eager faces. She had felt a rush of warmth though at the principal's words. These kids wanted to know they were worth something, and she wanted to convince them that they were. She knew all about vulnerability and feeling like you weren't worth anything and would amount to nothing. She was no longer ashamed of her past, no longer embarrassed that she'd worked as a smuggler or that she'd taken in a dangerous demi-god. Her past was her past, and it had shaped who she was now. Through all the pain and hard lessons, she wouldn't take a single thing back. Her eyes slid to where her mom was sitting in the front row. Well, maybe one. She wished her dad could be sitting there too. She hoped he'd be proud of her. Even if he hadn't been there to raise her, she understood now just how much he and her mother had sacrificed. As she looked on, she saw her Aunt Violet slide into the seat next to Ava. Aspen stiffened for a moment, her mind going back to high school when she'd been sixteen and wishing more than ever she had a real mom. She was surprised that her aunt had made it. She'd been halfway across the country, and Aspen hadn't thought she'd fly in in time to see her speak. Her heart warmed at the sight of her small family. It didn't matter that they hadn't been there in the past because they were here now when Aspen needed them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please." The noise in the auditorium quieted down. It looked as if every seat of the two-story room was filled. The local press was scrunched up along the walls, cameras focused on the stage. "I am very excited to introduce a very special guest speaker to you today," Principal Yancey continued. "She was a student here not that long ago, but you all know her as an Avenger. Please give a warm welcome to Aspen Tolvar!" He turned and motioned for Aspen to take the stage. The applause was ear splitting, but she found herself grinning as she stepped out onto the stage. Lately the press had not been very complimentary about the Avengers, so it was nice to have a group of people who were actually excited to have her there with them for once.

It took a long while for the applause to die down, but when it did, Aspen took the microphone in her hand and took a deep breath. "Thank you so much for having me here today," she told the people before her. "It's an honor to be invited back. After I graduated here in 2008, I didn't go off to college to study science like I'd envisioned. I didn't really have the money or, at the time, the support. I went to work for an old friend of the family who offered me information on my parents who had disappeared when I was three. As it turns out, he was only using me. I learned a lot of hard lessons very early on about trust. Trust has always been hard for me. Trust turned me into a smuggler, turned me against the law. Trust nearly got me killed. Fortunately for me, the right kind of person to trust came along and saved my life. To be honest, he was probably coming to arrest me, but he ended up giving me a second chance. You all know him as Hawkeye. I know him as a friend and a fellow Avenger." There were a few whistles and claps, and Aspen smiled. "Hawkeye worked for SHIELD at the time which as most of you probably know was an organization tasked with handling threats organizations like the FBI and the local police force couldn't. A lot of those threats were extraterrestrial. Battle of New York for instance. I was recruited as a level one agent and worked for a while as a scientist. It was fulfilling working for the good guys for once though SHIELD was a secretive sort of organization. It wasn't your typical job, and for a long time, I only had two friends – a fellow scientist and Hawkeye. I started taking classes at a local college, studying science like I'd always wanted. But then a certain soldier from a different time happened into my life quite unexpectedly." Some of the girls in the front rows chattered excitedly. "For the first time I felt like I had a place in the world. I had a new friend who didn't judge me for my past or my mistakes. Then I found myself in the middle of the chaos that overtook our world when a demi-god let loose an army of aliens from space." She paused here, and there was silence at the mention of the battle. "I was still a low level agent, and I had no business being there in the thick of it – in fact, I was rather specifically told not to get involved.

"At this point I'd made some big mistakes. I didn't really feel like I fit in at SHIELD anymore, but I definitely didn't feel like I fit in with the team SHIELD assembled to face the alien threat. I didn't have superpowers back then. I was barely out of high school and had worked for the wrong side of the law half my life. I was terrified of what might happen if I got on the jet that would take me into the thick of the crisis, but I knew I would regret it the rest of my life if I didn't get on. Sometimes you have to take that leap of faith. 'Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear,' as said by Mark Twain. Fear has always been there for me – fear of failure, fear of not fitting in, fear of being alone, fear of losing control. I haven't always been strong enough to resist it, and I certainly wouldn't call myself a master over it, but I've been lucky enough to have a team to help lift me up when I feel I can't stand, a team to tell me I'm worth something even when I don't see it in myself.

"When I joined the team that would later be known as the Avengers to fight in New York, I still considered myself an outsider. I didn't fit in with superpowers and engineering genius and assassins. I wasn't strong or particularly well trained at that point. Not once did they tell me I shouldn't be there though. Not once did they tell me I wasn't enough. Sometimes belief in yourself starts with others. Sometimes it's finding the right people to accept you. We were all misfits in a way – assassins turned agent, a soldier out of time, a demi-god whose brother had caused all the chaos, a billionaire who didn't play well with others, and a doctor who couldn't control his anger. Then there was me. I'd never fit in at any point in my life, but suddenly I did. Maybe not in power or strength or intelligence, but in the stubbornness to save the world in some small way, to make a difference. Eventually I gave up trying to deny that I'd become a part of the team, that I wasn't an Avenger. I embraced it." She smiled at the crowd as they clapped, a surreal feeling of pride washing over her. "I'm not someone special," she continued as the clapping died down. "I'm just a girl who wants to make a difference. I got some superpowers along the way – not by choice, but I've found a way to cope with them, to use them for good. Sometimes it's not about being super though. Sometimes it's just having the will to better your life, the desire to make something of yourself in a struggling world. Sometimes in order to find the courage you need to change your life, you need to fear where you're going strongly enough. We all have different circumstances, but I wanted to tell you that each one of you has the potential for greatness. It doesn't matter if you're simply human. That's all you need. One of the things I've learned throughout my years of being an Avenger is this: humans are strong together. We have an unshakable stubbornness that even the most powerful enemy finds difficult to overcome. Sometimes that enemy is Hydra. Sometimes it's a bully at school. Sometimes your greatest enemy is _you_.

"Where do you fit in this world? Well, that's the fun part. You have the rest of your lives to find out. I'm just honored to have the job to protect you and fight for your freedom and for your futures. Thank you."

The applause was nearly deafening, and Aspen took a step back from the microphone, hardly daring believe they were clapping for her. Rewind back to her days in high school, and she was the kid walking with her head down hoping no one would notice her. Now she held her head high, heart swelling. It had been a long road, but she felt like she'd arrived somewhere, like she could handle anything the future threw at her. As long as she had her team, she knew just where she belonged. The audience was standing now, kids and teachers alike. She saw her mom and aunt beaming at her and it hit her then that they were there. True, she was no longer a teenager, struggling to fit in, wishing she had a family to support her. Now there they were. Even a little late, they were there for her. When the applause finally faded, Aspen stepped up to the microphone once more. "I'd like to invite you now to ask questions," she said. "Don't be afraid to ask about the dark parts. I want to be an open book."

As she watched, nearly every kid in the auditorium raised their hand. She laughed. "Let's start with the young lady there in the Thor shirt."


	51. The Cost of Saving the World

**47 – The Cost of Saving the World – May 3, 2016**

"This is for dropping a building on my face." Steve's eyes widened as a knife slid forward from one of the metal extensions on Brock Rumlow's right arm. He was already bruised from being tossed into a wall and kicked several times. Rumlow had changed and not for the better. The knife was aimed at Steve's head, and his heart skipped a beat as he realized Rumlow was perhaps better prepared to fight him than they had imagined. He ducked to the right not a second too soon as the knife buried itself in the concrete wall behind him. The wall cracked under the weight of Rumlow's metal-clad fist. As the concrete shattered, Rumlow was momentarily distracted, and Steve took the chance to elbow him in the neck. Rumlow wavered, and Steve managed to rip off one of the metal arm extensions. Now they were on more even ground. Rumlow recovered quickly though, and another knife appeared at his left arm slashing at Steve's neck. He could feel the wind of it as it cut through the air a fraction of an inch from his neck. He spun away as Rumlow aimed for his chest next and then grabbed Rumlow's arm when he was clear of the knife, swiping the metal extension off and kicking him hard in one smooth motion. Rumlow went flying, hitting a table and shattering it.

As Steve strode toward him, Rumlow got to his knees and reached up to remove the helmet he'd been wearing as part of his Crossbones identity. He dropped it to the ground, not concerned about hiding anymore. Steve reached him, grabbing the straps on his shoulders and giving him a shake. Now, as he got a glimpse of Rumlow's face for the first time since the fall of the Triskellion, Steve saw why he wore a mask. Rumlow's face was badly burned, warped and stretched like melted wax. His left ear was deformed, and his cheeks were crisscrosses of angry red skin.

"I think I look pretty good, all things considered." Steve didn't bother trying to argue that Hydra had gotten Rumlow into that mess. Rumlow blamed him, and he blamed Sam. He blamed everyone who'd fought against Hydra that day.

"Who's your buyer?" Steve asked, jerking Rumlow by the straps.

Rumlow just looked up at him, unfazed. "You know, he knew you. Your pal, your buddy, your _Bucky_." Steve tensed at the mention of Bucky.

He gripped Rumlow harder, leaning closer as if he'd somehow misheard the words. "What did you say?"

"He remembered you. I was there. He got all weepy about it. Till they put his brain back in a blender." For a moment Steve forgot to breathe. He knew he shouldn't be listening to Rumlow, that he was just distracting Steve from questioning him, but he found he needed to hear what Rumlow had to say. "He wanted you to know something. He said to me... 'Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go...you gotta go.'" Something in Rumlow's eyes changed as he spoke his next words. "And you're coming with me." Rumlow had something in his hand, and Steve realized a moment too late that it was a bomb.

For a second, Steve thought he was dead. Rumlow pressed the release on the bomb, and fire rushed outward in a deadly inferno. He didn't have time to move, didn't have time to think. He felt his uniform start to singe, but then suddenly the heat was gone, imploding on itself. Rumlow screamed in pain as the fire consumed him. Steve turned to see Wanda standing there, struggling as she controlled the blast, kept it from engulfing them. She twisted her hands and the blast and Rumlow were thrust into the air, away from the crowded street. Then it veered left into a tall building, shattering glass and consuming several floors in flames. "Oh my god..."

Wanda fell to her knees beside him. She gasped at the sight of the flames, lifting a shaky hand to cover her mouth. Her eyes reflected horror as she watched the flames rise. She'd saved his life. She'd saved the people on the streets, but...

"Sam. We need…fire and rescue…on the south side of the building." He started toward the building, his body aching from being thrown around. "We got to get up here." His mind was still trying to process the fact that Rumlow had nearly killed him. He'd taken his own life to do so too as if that were worth giving up to kill Steve. Now other people had been hurt because of him, and Steve hadn't been able to stop it. Sam was already in the air, trying to find entrance to the burning building. Natasha was on the ground, clearing the perimeter. Wanda stood in shock but a moment later followed Steve as he entered the building. People screamed around them as they made their way up. Fire alarms blared around them, adding to the chaos. They took the stairs, weaving through the rush of people. They still had several stories to go, and Steve's heart pounded as he thought of the trapped people. "Sam, what's that status?" he asked.

"Two floors on fire. We've got trapped civilians on the 9th floor. I'm evacuating the 10th."

"This shouldn't be happening," Wanda moaned.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Steve told her as they passed the 6th floor. "We weren't expecting that." Nothing that had happened today had been what he'd been expecting. They'd come to Lagos on a lead for Bucky but instead had found themselves finally catching up to Rumlow and preventing him from escaping the city with a biological weapon. He didn't know who the buyer had been, didn't know who Rumlow had been working for. Somehow it was as if he expected Steve to come. He'd been ready for him. Perhaps he'd been trying to draw him out. He knew that Bucky was Steve's weak point, and he had used that to distract him. Maybe Steve would have noticed the explosives had he not hesitated at the sound of Bucky's name. Right now they needed to stay focused on evacuating the building.

He didn't need to read the number on the doorway to the 9th floor; the heat from the fire blasted outward, and Steve kicked in the door rather than twisting the knob. An overturned cabinet hit the floor, and Steve realized it had been blocking the doorway. He heard coughing and turned to Wanda. "Can you get the smoke out?" he asked her, trying to keep her focused.

Wanda nodded before pushing at the smoke with her red energy, sending it out the shattered windows. As the room began to clear, Steve moved inward, following the sound of coughing. He found three people huddled behind a desk. "Come on," he told them. "We need to get you out of here." He led them to the doorway, making sure they were strong enough to head down the stairs on their own before turning back to the room. The smoke had cleared somewhat, but fire still burned. Wanda used her energy to push down on the flames, effectively putting them out. Sirens rang outside, heralding the arrival of the fire trucks.

"I've got everyone out. What's that status down there?" Sam asked.

"Still evacuating," Steve said into the comm. "Wanda's putting out the fires."

"I'm going to check the floors above, make sure nobody's trapped."

"Fire response is here," Natasha said. "And the local news."

Steve inwardly cursed. The media wasn't going to see a disaster caused by mercenaries. They were going to see the Avengers, and they were going to ask why they had let people die. Maybe they should ask that. Steve had failed these people today, failed his team. This shouldn't have happened.

"Steve." He turned to see Wanda staring at a corner of the room. She'd put out most of the fire, but now she stood frozen. "Steve." Her voice was close to breaking, and he realized why a second later as he joined her. There were bodies crushed under broken ceiling. Several of them looked as if they'd been badly burned. Steve put an arm around Wanda and forced her to turn away.

"Nat, we're going to need the EMTs up here on the 9th floor," he said into the comm.

"You've done enough," he told Wanda. She wouldn't look at him, so he gently took her chin. She hesitantly met his eyes, and he felt a tear hit his hand as it slid down her cheek. "Hey. This wasn't on you. Go help Nat keep the crowds calm. I'm going to see if there's anyone else."

Wanda nodded, tripping from the room. He heard her let out a muffled sob, her footsteps clattering on the stairs. He found seven bodies, and Sam met him after checking the other floors to report that he couldn't get through some of the rubble.

"We've done what we can do," he told Steve as the EMTs arrived on site. The structure was still unstable but Sam was right; there wasn't anything more they could do.

Back on the quinjet, they were silent. There wasn't really much to be said. They'd delivered the biological weapon back to the Institute for Infections Diseases but the workers there only looked at them like they had no business being there in the first place. The center was a wreck, but there was nothing they could do about that either. It was when they were halfway home that Steve realized he hadn't checked his phone since before they'd gone on mission. He had three missed calls from Aspen and several texts. He bypassed the texts and called her.

"Thank god! I saw the news," she told him. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"We're okay," he told her. He couldn't muster anything but a flat, dejected tone. "We're on our way home."

"Bucky?" There was hope in her voice, but also fear. She was probably thinking he'd reverted back to the Winter Soldier.

"False lead, but we did find something. Rumlow was there with a group of mercenaries. He was stealing a biological weapon from a disease center in a military compound. Probably planning on selling it. We stopped him, but... Well, he had a backup plan. People got hurt. Not us. We were lucky." Especially him, thanks to Wanda. He glanced back at her. She was staring at her lap, hands laid out as if they were weapons she wanted nothing to do with.

"I'm on the first flight home," Aspen said. "I'll see you soon."

"See you soon."

…

Wanda locked herself in her room the moment they got home, and Steve could hear her crying. He pressed his head against the door, feeling her pain and wondering if he should try to talk to her. In the end, he let her be alone. She needed time to grieve, and he was too tired and disheartened to find the right words to comfort her.

Natasha was talking rapidly on the phone to Tony who had called the second they'd landed. Steve pulled out his phone and saw that he had several missed calls from the ex-Avenger. He was glad Natasha had answered her phone because listening to Tony berate him for what had happened was not what he needed to hear right now. As he walked into the living room, he stopped short, his heart lifting for the first time in hours.

Aspen stood in the doorway, suitcase in hand. She dropped it and ran forward, flinging her arms around him and burying her head in the crook of his neck. She didn't say anything, just held him.

"What are they saying?" he asked after a moment. He hadn't had the chance to check the news, but he knew the pictures and videos would be everywhere now.

"They know that Rumlow was there and that you stopped him," she said, pulling away so she could look him in the eye. Her green eyes were wary, and he knew not everyone was painting them as heroes. Hell, he didn't feel like a hero right now. People had died. They might have stopped Rumlow, might have recovered the biological weapon, but in the end it hadn't been an entirely successful mission. "No one knows the whole truth though, so they're guessing at details. Basically they know you were there and that people died. It's not really clear where the blame is being placed yet."

Steve laughed humorlessly. "That's all it really comes down to."

"Have you talked to Tony?" she said it casually, but he could hear the underlying tension in her voice.

"Not yet. Have _you_?"

"Yeah, he called me while I was driving back here. Asked why I hadn't been there." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"You know, for being retired, he certainly likes to jump on any excuse to pass blame around." He felt a wave of irritation though he knew it wasn't really Tony he was angry with. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. "But he's right. We messed up."

"What went wrong?" she asked him, guiding him over to the couch. His suit still smelled like ashes, but he couldn't find the energy to go and change. The acrid smell reminded him of the people who had died, and it felt like disrespect to try to wash it away.

"Rumlow caught me off guard," he told her, flashing back to their fight. "We fought. I had him, but he distracted me. He brought up Bucky and how he had remembered me before they'd scrambled his brain again, turned him back into the Winter Soldier. Rumlow had a suicide bomb." Aspen closed her eyes, and a wave of panic washed over Steve as he realized just how close to death he'd been. "If Wanda hadn't been quick enough…"

Aspen was quiet for a moment as they contemplated what could have happened. "So Rumlow's bomb started the fire then?"

"Wanda accidentally crashed him into the building when she was trying to get the explosion away from me. She saved my life and the lives of the people on the streets around us, but people died anyway. I didn't hear the count."

"It hasn't been announced yet," Aspen told him. "I heard on the news that very little information is being given out, but Steve, it could have been so much worse." She took his hand and held it tightly. "I could have lost you."

It was the risk they took, but it had been close this time. He'd let himself get distracted, and he'd missed the bomb. "I've gotta stop looking for him," he said quietly, more to himself than Aspen.

"Rumlow would have sold that biological weapon to someone who would have killed even more people," Aspen told him firmly. "More people would have died. You went looking for Bucky, but you stopped a threat we've been chasing for a year. Rumlow was never going to stop. He knew you had him cornered and tried to take you down with him. If the guilt should be placed anywhere, it's on him. This has nothing to do with looking for Bucky."

"If he hadn't brought up Bucky, I might have noticed the bomb. If just the mention of Bucky can distract me that easily… We've been looking for two years. He doesn't want to be found." He had to know Steve was looking. If he had his old memories back, then why would he keep running? Steve hadn't allowed himself to think of the simple possibility that Bucky didn't want Steve to find him. "I've got to stop looking."

Aspen opened her mouth to argue, but Steve spoke over her. "Can you see if you can get Wanda to talk?" he asked her. "Right now she could really use a friend."

Aspen nodded, and Steve got up. "I'm going to shower and change," he told her. There was still dried blood on his hands, and the smell of ashes was making him feel sick all of a sudden. It reminded him that though they'd succeeded in stopping Rumlow today, people were dead because of them.

…

Aspen tapped on Wanda's door. "It's me," she called out softly. A moment passed before she heard a click as the door unlocked. Wanda was sitting on her bed, knees up to her chin, arms wrapped protectively around herself. Aspen could tell she'd been crying. She came over, sitting on Wanda's bed and putting her arms around her. Wanda leaned into her, her tears starting again. Aspen noticed she had a picture of her and Pietro sitting next to her on the bed.

"He should have been there," Wanda said, her voice trembling as she spoke. "He could have gotten everyone out in time. People die around me, Aspen." She reached for the frame.

"That's not true," Aspen told her. "It's not _you_. It's the job. What we do…it's not without risk. We save lives but sometimes we can't… I wish it could be different. People might call us superheroes, but we're not invincible, we're not perfect. Part of being a superhero is learning to live with that."

"And what if I can't?"

"Then maybe this life isn't for you. Maybe you walk away and find something else that you can live with. I don't say that to sound harsh. I just don't want you to put all this on your shoulders. It wasn't a solo mission. You think Steve, Sam, or Nat feel any less guilty? Don't bear that guilt on your own. For what it's worth, I think you were meant for this life. You're compassionate and strong. Don't ever forget that. Pietro would say the same."

Wanda set the photo down and turned to wrap Aspen in a hug. "Thank you," she said softly. "I want to be an Avenger. I just need some time."

Aspen held her tightly before letting go. "Of course. After my dad died, I felt like it was all my fault. I felt like being involved with this life was the reason he died. Then I realized it was never about me. Those events had already been set in motion a long time ago. Rumlow was already planning his attack. That had nothing to do with our team."

Wanda placed the picture of her brother down on her nightstand, wiping a sleeve against her eyes to dry them. "It shouldn't hurt so much that people are calling us out, blaming us, but somehow it still does."

"That's because – no matter what the world thinks, no matter what people say – we're still human. We still care what other people think of us. We still want to be liked. Being in the spotlight is bittersweet. We get praised and glorified and thanked, but we also get criticized and vilified and blamed. Being a hero isn't about always being liked. Sometimes doing the right thing means not everyone is happy. And the inevitability that someone is going to get hurt is always there. We'll get through this though. We always do. If we have to bear their deaths on our shoulders then we will. But we do it together, not alone. Together we can make it through anything."

Wanda gave her a watery smile. "As long as we're together, I think I can bear it."

"That's what friends are for," Aspen told her. "You never have to be alone."


	52. Complications

**48 – Complications – June 19, 2016**

The arrow hit the target with a satisfying 'thump' shattered a moment later when Clint's arrow sliced it in half.

"Hey!" Aspen protested, spinning around to glare at her former teammate. Clint was smiling innocently at her. "I thought this was supposed to be therapeutic."

"You wouldn't know relaxation if it came up and offered you a cruise to the Bahamas," Clint told her, flexing his fingers around his bow. "You thrive on action, and you know it."

"Maybe." Aspen bit her lip. Ever since the mission in Lagos, things had been quiet. The Avengers weren't exactly the heroes in the face of publicity after it had been announced that eleven civilians and relief workers had been killed in the explosion. There'd never been more talk of the government controlling the team, and it worried Aspen to no end. She'd spent the last few weeks feeling sick to her stomach though maybe that could be summed up to a simple though stubborn stomach bug. It bothered her to think the media was advertising all of this conflict for the world to see and form an opinion on. It felt like an invasion. This didn't concern them. The Avengers were a private group of individuals, and it wasn't up to surveys on Twitter to decide how they should work.

"Never mind that. Let's shoot two more rounds and then get some lunch."

"You just want to beat me again," Aspen accused.

"Now why would I want to do that? I'm retired." Aspen snorted as Clint raised his bow. "Here. I'll go first. You can hit my arrow. Maybe." His lips quirked up in a smile that Aspen had missed.

Things had been tense around Avengers headquarters lately, and Aspen had taken Clint up on his offer to spend a week with him and his family to get away from superheroing for a while. She'd formed an attachment to his youngest child though she'd always been uncomfortable around kids. It was probably just because it was Clint's kid. Clint was family so that made his wife and children her family too now that she'd finally adjusted to the idea of him _having_ a family.

"I'm starving," she said as her stomach growled two rounds later. Clint had soundly beat her, but Aspen wasn't too bothered.

"You always say you're starving, but you pick at your food like a bird," Clint told her, giving her an odd look. "Although you ate my mushroom quiche last night without a complaint."

"So?" Aspen lifted an eyebrow at him as they stowed their bows in the barn and headed for the house.

"You _hate_ mushrooms."

She shrugged wondering why Clint was making a big deal of this. "I could hardly taste them."

"You still hate them. Remember that time Bruce ordered pizza with extra mushrooms not realizing you hated them, and you spent like twenty minutes picking off every single offending fungi? Your pizza was cold by the time you started eating it."

"So maybe my taste buds changed. It happens. People grow up and decide the world won't end if a single mushroom slides down their throat." Clint looked unconvinced, but he didn't press the matter.

Laura was fixing grilled cheese in the kitchen, the smell wafting throughout the house. Cooper and Lila were coloring at the table while they waited, and Nathaniel gurgled happily from his crib, a mess of Cheerios on the tray before him.

"Anyway, why would you feed me mushrooms if you knew I didn't like them?" Aspen asked, taking a seat at the table.

Clint rolled his eyes. "I forgot you didn't like them until after the quiche was in the oven. I figured you might not notice them."

"Well, lunch today is mushroom-free grilled cheese," Laura said, placing a plate in front of Aspen with a smile.

"Smells delicious. Thank you. Vision is learning to cook," she added when Clint and Laura took seats at the table.

Clint snorted. "And how is that going?"

"Well, I think he was trying to keep it a secret, but I walked in on him one day while he was attempting spaghetti and meatballs. Mainly I just heard the smoke detector going off and ran to see what was on fire. He'd burned the sauce, so I pulled out a can of tomato sauce and helped him warm that. The meat was mostly raw, so we talked about food poisoning and the dangers of pink meat. It was actually a pretty good bonding session. And the spaghetti wasn't half bad."

"He's trying to be human."

"You think he shouldn't?"

Clint looked thoughtful. "I don't think he shouldn't. I just think he's going to find there are differences he can't compensate for. But he shouldn't have to try to be human just to fit in. The team's not going to treat him differently for being an android."

"But other people will. The media got ahold of the fact that we have an android on our team, and it hasn't escaped their notice that he was involved with the Ultron fiasco," Aspen pointed out. The press would paint anyone in a negative light if they thought it was the most interesting angle of a story.

"They see android and think it's the same as a robot. Most people don't bother to look for the difference." Cooper and Lila were listening avidly as their dad spoke.

Aspen took a bite of her grilled cheese, but she was suddenly feeling nauseous. "They're talking about regulations. This time seriously. Ever since Lagos…"

"You can't put heroes on a leash and expect them to save the world," Clint said, frowning. "What does Steve think of all this?"

"He's worried. He doesn't talk about it a lot, but I can tell it has him worried. He says it would have to be agreed upon by a lot of people before some sort of restriction could get passed, but it seems like we're headed that way. We make one mistake that isn't even our fault and suddenly the world is eager to see the government in charge of us. People are voting online whether or not they think we should be controlled by the government. I can't even go on the Internet anymore…" Steve spent a lot of time in his office these days, and Aspen knew he was reading everything he could. She wanted to be prepared, but she found reading the latest news on the debate depressed her too much. "First the Inhumans, now us."

"The world isn't happy unless it has some new martyr," Clint agreed.

"I should be used to it by now, but somehow it still bothers me." Maybe it was that she'd once had privacy, anonymity. Now she was always in the spotlight with her team. People knew her name and her abilities and her history. Perhaps she'd put some of that out there for the world to see, but somehow lately everything had felt like an intrusion.

"What about Tony? Has he said anything about all this?" Clint asked, polishing off his grilled cheese sandwich. Aspen had hardly touched hers.

"Not to me. I don't think he's said anything to Steve either which worries me. If he was on our side, he would be fighting for us right now. But if he _disagrees_. Well, he knows all too well how stubborn Steve is. The two of them trying to argue about something they have opposite opinions on…well, let's just say they would be going around in circles for a long time." She was actually disappointed at how little she'd heard from Tony recently. In the last ten months, he'd hardly called or texted her. She knew he was busy, but she had hoped after he'd left the team that he'd still stay in touch. He'd sounded subdued the last time they'd spoken, and Aspen wondered if there was something going on in his life that he wasn't willing to talk to her about.

"Well, we know Tony has no love for the government." That was true, but something still felt off. It wasn't like Tony to stay quiet about something he had an opinion about, and she had no doubt that he did have an opinion about this.

"Aspen, honey, you don't have to finish that if you're not hungry," Laura said kindly after a few minutes had passed in silence. Aspen looked down at the sandwich she'd taken one bite of.

"I thought you were starving," Clint said, nudging her arm.

"I'm sorry. I just feel a little ill. This whole thing has got me stressed out," Aspen said. She couldn't bring herself to eat another bite though she felt impolite.

"Then let's talk about something else because coming here was supposed to be relaxing for you," Clint said.

"It is. Thank you." She gave Clint and Laura a smile. "I really appreciate you taking me in for a few days."

"Of course. You know you're always welcome here. You're part of the family," Clint told her. Nathaniel gurgled his assent.

"I think I might just go lie down for a little while," Aspen told them. "Hopefully I'll feel better after that. Anxiety doesn't agree with me." She moved to grab her plate, but Laura waved her away.

"I'll take care of that. You go lie down for as long as you need. Would you like me to bring you a cup of tea?"

"Sure. That would be wonderful." It felt like being home with her mom, and Aspen found herself wishing she could stay longer. As she headed upstairs, she heard Clint speaking to Laura.

"She's not acting like herself," he said quietly. She could hear the worry in his voice. Laura didn't answer right away, so Aspen paused on the stairs out of sight to listen.

"How long has she been getting sick?" she asked.

"She told me a few weeks now. The Superhero Serum is supposed to help her fight off sickness. She's able to convince her body to fight off infection faster than normal. And she doesn't really get sick. Ever. Sure she has anxiety over things, but usually she feels faint or overheated or gets a headache. This seems different. You don't think it's something serious? Should we take her to the doctor?" Aspen smiled despite herself. Clint sounded like a nervous parent even though Aspen was more than capable of taking herself to the doctor. Her stomach squirmed a little at his words though. What if there was something wrong with her? She tried to think back to when she had begun to feel ill. A couple of weeks? She had blamed it on the stress she'd been feeling lately, but she'd been stressed since Lagos. She didn't hear Laura's reply because her mind was suddenly racing. Clint was correct that the serum helped her fight off illness, so what if something was wrong with the serum? She rushed up to the guest bedroom and closed the door, pulling her phone out of her pocket and calling her mom.

"Hey, Mom," she said when she heard Ava's voice on the other end. It was Sunday, so her mom would be at home rather than the university she currently taught at in Phoenix.

"Hey, honey. How are you? It's so good to hear your voice."

"Yours too. I'm all right. I'm staying with Clint and Laura right now. I just needed to get away from everything for awhile." She'd kept her mom up to date on everything that had been happening, and she knew Ava watched the news avidly.

"I'm sorry everything is so stressful right now," Ava said sympathetically.

"That's kind of why I called," Aspen told her. "I've been feeling pretty ill for the last few weeks. I thought it was because of stress, but I've been stressed since Lagos. Besides, I'm used to the stress of being an Avenger. It's never affected me like this before."

"What are your symptoms?" Ava asked. Aspen could picture her getting out one of her medical books. Growing up, they'd had an old collection of medical books from the 70s that Ava referred to when Aspen got sick.

"Nausea, lack of appetite sometimes and then other times I feel like I'm famished. I've thrown up several times. Stomach bugs don't usually last this long, right?"

"Not usually. Let's see." Aspen heard typing in the background. "According to WebMd," Aspen snorted at this, "you could have indigestion. Have you been eating something that doesn't agree with you?"

"Not that I can think of." She frowned thinking of the mushrooms she'd unwittingly eaten the night before.

"All right. Probably not food poisoning then."

"No. I would know if I had food poisoning. Remember that seafood place we went to in DC? I still shudder every time I see cod." Her stomach turned over a little at the thought, and she moved to the bathroom door as her mom continued to search.

"It does list stress. Maybe it's just caught up to you."

"Maybe…"

"Gastritis, ulcer, mumps…"

"Those all sound awful."

"Allergic reaction?"

"No. None of those sound right…" Aspen sighed, sliding down to the floor. "I'm worried it has something to do with the serum. Could it be causing this? Could something be wrong?"

"That serum is a part of you now. It wouldn't cause those symptoms. If something was going awry, you would know. It would be worse than throwing up. Besides, the serum was designed so that the brain can help speed up the healing process." That was exactly what Clint had said.

"So if not the serum, then what?" Aspen asked.

"You've felt ill every day for the last two weeks?" Ava asked.

"Pretty much. It hit me hard one morning, and I haven't felt right since. Do you know something I don't?"

"Well, there is another suggestion from the symptoms you listed off…" She paused, and Aspen hoped she wasn't about to find out she had stomach cancer or something. "Have you considered morning sickness?"

Aspen stared blankly at the wall. "I…what? No. No way. I don't always get sick in the morning. I threw up before bed a week ago." Her mind was solidly rejecting what her mom had said. "I mean, there's no way."

"Well, there _is_ a way. And you don't just get sick in the morning with morning sickness." There was a smile behind Ava's voice while Aspen was having a full on panic attack on the bathroom floor.

"But that's…that's not…" She closed her eyes and fought back a wave of nausea that had nothing to do with…whatever was ailing her.

"Morning sickness tends to start six weeks into a preg–"

"No. Don't say it. That is _not_ what's wrong with me," Aspen ground out. Her mind was whirling though. Six weeks. And she'd felt ill for two weeks meaning she'd be eight weeks…. No. She refused to even finish that thought.

"Not to be…indelicate, but when was the last time…"

" _Mom_ ," Aspen groaned before her mom could finish that thought. "Don't even _go_ there."

"Honey, you're an adult. You can handle this like an adult." Aspen didn't want to though. She wanted to whine and throw a fit and reject what her mom was saying.

She frowned, counting back the weeks to just before Steve had left for Lagos. Ever since things had been busy and strained, and she'd given him space. "About eight weeks."

"We can both do the math. Aspen, honey, why aren't you excited?"

Why wasn't she excited? Nothing had been proved first of all though she realized now there were other signs she hadn't noticed until now. She'd summed it all up to stress. She put a tentative hand on her stomach. It was flat. As flat as it had been eight weeks ago? She wasn't sure. But should she be excited by the possibility? She couldn't even bring her mind to say the word.

"It's not a good time," she finally said, her voice flat.

"It's never a good time. Not when it's unplanned and sometimes not when it is." Her mom sounded ecstatic, but Aspen felt dread building up in her mind, numbing her body from her head down.

"It's never going to be a good time. Not for me. Not ever. I…I don't want this. What I do…I can't do that if I…if I'm…" She felt a sob building up in the back of her throat. "It makes everything so much more complicated. Impossible even. People like me don't have families. We don't have white picket fences and two-story houses. My life is constantly at risk. I can't be putting someone else's life at risk too." They'd never talked about this. She and Steve. Her mom had brought it up a while ago, but Aspen had told her right then and there that it was not the time and probably would never be the time. She'd meant what she said, and she hadn't changed her mind.

"That's not true. You can have a life, a family. Steve will be thrilled."

"Will he? We don't know anything for sure."

"There's one way to find out. And of course he'll be happy. Why wouldn't he be?" Her mom didn't understand. Aspen realized it had been a mistake calling her. Sure, if she were a normal person then she would love to talk to her mom about this, but she wasn't normal and her mom didn't understand her life. She didn't see what was wrong.

"I have to go, Mom. I can hear Laura bringing up my tea." She hastily got to her feet and kicked off her shoes, sitting on the bed.

"Aspen, you can't just run away from this. It's going to catch up to you."

"Then I'll deal with it then. I have to go. I love you, Mom." She hung up and muted her phone before her mom could protest. Laura knocked a moment later, and Aspen called her in, lying down on the bed as if she'd been resting the whole time. Laura set a mug on the bedside table.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better," Aspen lied. She watched Laura carefully, remembering the conversation she'd been having with Clint before Aspen had gone upstairs. Did she know? Did they suspect? Laura was looking at her carefully. "Just stress," Aspen added as if she needed to justify her illness.

"Of course. Well, I hope the tea helps. It's mint."

"Thank you, Laura. Really. You and Clint always make me feel like part of the family. It means more to me than I can say."

"You're always welcome here," Laura said, putting a hand on Aspen's shoulder. "Let me know if you need anything else."

She left Aspen alone, shutting the door softly behind her. Finally Aspen let her tears fall, one hand on her stomach, the other clutched around the phone. She opened her contacts list, finger hovering over Steve's name. Her finger trembled, and she slid it down to exit out of the contacts. She placed the phone back on the table. She couldn't call him. Not yet. Not until she knew. She didn't want to know though. She wanted to live on in blissful ignorance, ignoring the complication that had suddenly made her life as uncertain as the day she'd lost her parents.

…

She somehow managed to sleep though she must have stared at the ceiling for a good hour before. When she woke, the screen of her phone was lit up, and she expected it to be her mom calling again. When she saw Steve's name instead, fear gripped her, and she declined the call. She was breathing hard when the screen lit up again to show that she had a message. There was no way he could know. Unless…what if Aspen's mom had called him? Aspen grabbed her phone to call her voicemail, hands trembling. Please don't let her have told him. Please no.

"Hey, Aspen. I'm sorry to bother you while you're at Clint's, but Tony just called and he requested that we all be at headquarters tomorrow. There's something he said we need to discuss, and he wanted the whole team there. You don't have to come, of course, but it sounded important. Give Clint and Laura my love, and I hope to see you soon."

The message ended, and Aspen let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. He didn't know. He didn't know anything. Her breathing slowed, and her heart settled into a steady trot rather than a gallop. He didn't know, and as far as she was concerned, neither did she.


	53. Accords

**49 – Accords – June 20, 2016**

Steve wasn't sure what Tony wanted to talk to them about. He'd asked for the whole team to be together though, so Steve had a guess. He wasn't immune to the chatter about putting the Avengers under government control. The Internet was abuzz with polls and news reports that featured the Battle of New York, DC, Sokovia, and–lately–Lagos. Constant reminders of the casualties that inevitably fell on the Avengers' shoulders. Steve felt the weight of it every day, but lately more than ever. He knew Wanda felt the same way. He'd caught her watching the latest news report on Lagos. After a month, Wanda hadn't quite found a way to quit blaming herself but then again, neither had he.

He knew he should go out and greet Tony, but he found himself hesitating in the hall. Killing time would only delay the inevitable. He heard someone behind him and turned to see Aspen standing there. "You made it." Aspen hesitated for a moment, not getting any closer. "Are you okay?"

"What?" She practically jumped at his words. "Fine, yeah. Just wondering what Tony wants us all here for."

"He's here with the Secretary of State." Thaddeus Ross had been given the title recently, and Steve wasn't sure how to feel about that. He'd never personally met the man, but Bruce had mentioned him before, and Steve knew that they had history. Ross had tried to hunt down the Hulk and had made some rash decisions along the way that had led to civilian casualties. It seemed ironic that he was now coming to speak to the Avengers most likely about the way they conducted themselves.

"Sounds serious."

"I guess we should go meet them." He studied Aspen for a second. She seemed skittish, and he couldn't imagine why because she seemed skittish around _him_. "Are you sure you're okay? You look pale. Are you still feeling ill?"

If anything, she paled more at his inquiry. "No. I'm fine. I'm just getting a headache. Let me put this away." She picked up her suitcase and started toward their room. Steve let her go, feeling uncertain about the cold detachment in her voice. He knew she'd been worried lately, and Ross's presence would do nothing to alleviate that. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more, something she wasn't willing to open up about just yet. She joined him a moment later, giving him a weak smile.

"I missed you." He twined his fingers with hers. She looked up at him, eyes thoughtful, as if she were looking for something.

"There's something I need to tell you. Later though." Was it just him, or did she look nervous?

"Of course."

She smiled and squeezed his hand. "Let's go see what Tony wants."

The others were already seated around the long table where they had meetings, each looking just as curious as he felt. Rhodey was there – he'd been away for several weeks doing work with the Air Force – and Steve thought he looked less confused than the rest of them. He supposed Tony must have kept him more in the loop than Steve. He felt a stab of annoyance at this, but pushed it aside. Tony was seated to the side as if separating himself from the team. As Steve took his seat, Aspen at his side, he took a moment to observe Ross. He was tall with a dominating sort of look to him and the bearings of a long time military man. He didn't miss the fact that Ross had brought a man with him – a guard? Or perhaps just an assistant. Aspen gave Steve a nervous glance.

Ross seemed to have no compunctions about standing before them as he started to speak though, telling them that he'd had a heart attack five years ago that had given him a fresh perspective on life. "The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives…but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word 'vigilantes'." And there it was. Steve knew Ross hadn't come here to sing their praises. There was a catch, and here it was. Aspen stiffened next to him.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked politely. Steve knew her too well to think she was politely asking though. There was carefully veiled tension on her face though she smiled blandly at Ross.

"How about 'dangerous'?" The friendly tone Ross had used at first was gone. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose." Steve frowned at Ross's words. They didn't ' _inflict their will_ ' on others. They saved lives. When the world was at risk, they didn't have time to show their passports and go through airport security. There were larger threats out there that required them to operate differently than the military. Ross wasn't finished though. "And who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind." His words were met with silence, and he moved aside so that he could pull up a map on the screen. Certain spots where pinpointed in yellow. The screen zoomed in as Ross said, "New York." The number of casualties showed on the side as if they needed to be reminded, as if they'd forgotten. It showed footage from the battle – a leviathan, Hulk leaping from building to building. Steve could hear the people screaming. He looked around and saw that all his team members were watching with haunted expressions. Rhodey glanced back at him as if gauging Steve's reaction. "Washington DC." The footage changed to the destruction of the Tricarriers. People screamed as they crashed into the water, and Sam looked down, shame and regret on his face.

Aspen was clenching the arms of her chair, her expression more anger than anything. Her gaze was directed at Ross, and Steve was pretty sure she'd have something to say when he was finished.

"Sokovia," Ross continued, tone dour. Wanda's eyes were glued to the screen as the footage started. Buildings fell and the city floated high above the ground. "Lagos." This was the freshest wound, and none of them needed reminding of the lives lost or their own failure. The camera zoomed in on one of the dead. Wanda looked away, a small gasp escaping her lips.

"Okay," Steve said. "That's enough."

Ross nodded to the man who had come with him, and the video ended. "For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." He was handed a thick booklet, and Steve knew everything was about to change for them. Ross slid the book across the table straight to Wanda.

"The Sokovia Accords."

Steve didn't like that he'd handed the Accords straight to Wanda. It was like Ross was targeting her, putting more blame on her shoulders. He should have handed them to Steve, the team leader, but he'd handed them to the youngest of them. He watched Wanda carefully as she pulled the Accords toward her. She read the cover and then looked up at Rhodey who motioned for her to push it over. She did, as if it were something poisonous to touch.

"Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nation's panel only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

Nothing that Ross was saying sounded like what the world needed. If they only acted when a panel deemed it necessary then they would risk not being there when people needed their help. They didn't have time to get approval for a mission. More people would die while the team was tangled in the web of bureaucracy.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place," Steve said, unable to stay silent any longer while Ross tore them apart. "I feel we've done that."

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Steve looked up at him, frowning at the implications. Thor and Bruce didn't need to check in with the team. They weren't children needing supervision. "If I misplaced a couple of 30-megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences."

Natasha was clenching her hands together tightly on the table in front of her though she hadn't spoken since her first question. Aspen, however, could stay silent no longer. "Nukes? I'm sorry, are we talking about bombs or two human beings who don't need permission to leave the nest?" Her fury was barely veiled, her eyes alight with anger. She sent a scathing look at Tony before looking to Ross for an answer.

"I'd hardly call them human."

"I know you and Banner have a history, but he's one of us, and he's a hero. If he wants to take some time to himself, it's none of the government's business."

"The Hulk is very much the government's business considering how much damage he's caused. I doubt I need to remind you of South Africa?"

"But that was…" Aspen stopped herself, shooting a horrified look at Wanda. "That was a misunderstanding," she amended. Wanda looked like she wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.

"If we forgave every misunderstanding like that then there would be no accountability," Ross told her. "Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me," he said, pointing to the Accords. "This is the middle ground."

"So," Rhodey said, placing a hand on the Accords. "There are contingencies."

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords." Three days. That gave them almost no time to discuss, no time to come up with something different. Ross had done that on purpose, Steve was sure of that. He turned to Tony who had been silent this whole time. At first Tony wouldn't meet his eyes, but then he looked up, and Steve knew the reason he hadn't spoken, hadn't argued for them, was that he agreed with Ross. He'd already made up his mind. Steve looked away, disappointed that he couldn't count on Tony as an ally in this.

"Talk it over." Ross was done talking. He and his man started for the doors.

Natasha finally spoke up again. "And if we come to a decision you don't like?"

Ross paused, looking over at Natasha. "Then you retire." The words were final, forceful. His meaning was clear: if they didn't sign the Accords, they would be considered resigned from the team.

After the doors had closed after Ross, Aspen said, "What an unpleasant man," and stood. "I guess we have some discussing to do," she told the team. They moved into the living room beyond, Steve snagging the Accords and opening them to the first page as the others began to discuss. Argue might have been a better word, and he realized at once that the team was divided. This didn't bode well though they were free to have their own opinions and views. He wouldn't hold a grudge against any of them who had a different view than him, but nothing good was going to come from these Accords. Aspen quietly sat on the arm of his chair, reading over his shoulder, one hand rested on his back.

As Sam and Rhodey argued congressional medals, Tony lay back in one of the chairs, hand splayed out across his face as if he had a migraine coming on.

"117 countries want to sign this," Rhodey reiterated to Sam. "117, Sam." Aspen gave a sigh, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"How long are you going play both sides?" Sam accused, and Steve paused in his reading. It was true that Rhodey had never fully been a part of the team the way the others were. It didn't make him any less of an Avenger, but he still had his duties to the Air Force, and he'd always been Tony's friend first and foremost. Now it was clear that he didn't have the same qualms as the rest of them about the Accords.

"I have an equation," Vision interrupted.

"Oh, this will clear it up," Sam said, voice edged with sarcasm. He and Rhodey turned to listen to Vision though, and Steve lowered the Accords for a moment to give Vision his attention.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. "And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.

"I'm saying there may be a causality." He paused. "Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict…breeds catastrophe. Oversight…oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

Aspen was shaking her head. "I thought the Avengers were created to handle potentially world-ending events. This team was put together to challenge those who threaten our world. We didn't even exist before Loki brought his army down from space. If we hadn't been there then that battle would have gone a totally different direction," she said. "I don't think more threats are presenting themselves because we exist. I think we exist because those threats are _already out there_. The government just wants someone to pin the blame on. They want to say that we're out of control but if they put us on a leash, things will get better. They won't."

"Tony," Natasha spoke up, looking over at the ex-Avenger. Tony removed his hand from his face. "You're being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said. Aspen tensed behind him though he was sure she'd already come to the same conclusion. It was the first time it had been voiced though.

"Boy, you know me so well," Tony said. He rose from the couch, holding his head. "Actually I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain." He walked into the kitchen, and Steve frowned at the use of the semi-formal nickname. Somehow today it felt wrong. "It's discomfort." Tony frowned into the sink. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

Aspen frowned at his words, and Steve wondered where this irritability was coming from. Tony had invited Ross here or at least brought him here. Why was he so angry?

He put his phone down and pulled up an image of a young boy. He sighed, looking suddenly sad as if something heavy was weighing on his shoulders. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA…had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun." Steve was beginning to wonder if Tony's story had a point, but everyone was listening quietly as Tony rattled on. "He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where. Sokovia." He finally paused, and his words began to sink in. Of course. He'd been there when the attack had started. He probably hadn't made it out. Steve saw the truth sinking into around the room. Wanda opened her mouth slightly, understanding dawning on her face.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean we won't know because we dropped a building on him when we were kicking ass." He tossed back a pain reliever and washed it down with coffee before turning to them. "There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up," Steve told him. One person died, possibly because of Ultron, and Tony was willing to let the government restrict the team. More people were going to die. Why couldn't he see that? This wasn't the solution. There had to be other ones, but this wasn't it. Placing the decision-making in the hands of a committee wasn't going to solve anything.

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony fired back.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions," Steve told him. If they gave up the responsibility for making decisions then they would not be making themselves accountable for their actions. They would be placing that into someone else's hands. "This document just shifts the blame."

"I'm sorry, Steve," Rhodey interrupted. "But that…that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about." Steve shook his head. If he was being arrogant then Rhodey was being naïve. "It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not Hydra."

"No," Steve cut in, "but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change."

"That's _good_ ," Tony spoke up. "That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you _chose_ to do that," Steve told him. "If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there's somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own." After everything they'd been through, Steve had lost his trust in government organizations. SHIELD had ended up corrupt. Hydra had worked its way into the government. He didn't trust these people. He didn't know who they were or what they believed in. He wasn't about to blindly place his team and the choice to save people in the hands of strangers.

He looked up at Tony. "If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty," Tony said, looking exhausted, defeated.

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda said, surprisingly calmly. It was clear she still heavily blamed herself for Lagos, perhaps even for Sokovia.

"We would protect you," Vision promised her.

"If the government would even let us," Aspen muttered darkly.

"Maybe Tony's right." Steve started as Natasha spoke up. He never thought he'd hear those words come out of her mouth, especially on this subject. Tony turned to give her a strange look. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off…"

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam asked, leaning forward to give her an astonished look. Natasha's eyes fitted around the room, and she looked nervous, a look Steve wasn't used to seeing on her face.

"I'm just…I'm reading the terrain," she defended. Steve had a sinking feeling in his guts as he listened to her to speak. Natasha could make her own decisions, but Steve would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed and shocked that she wasn't immediately taking his side. She'd seen corruption firsthand from an organization that had taken her in during her darkest times. "We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

"Whose trust?" Aspen asked. "The government or the people we're trying to save?"

"Focus up," Tony said, taking over Aspen. "I'm sorry. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"

"Ooh, I want to take it back now," Natasha said.

"No, no, no, you can't retract it." Tony sounded just as surprised as Steve felt.

Suddenly Steve's cell phone buzzed, and he tuned out of the conversation for a moment, opening up a text message from a number he didn't recognize. He had to reread the message three times before he could make any sense of it. His mind just couldn't seem to process the words even though he knew at once who they spoke of. Then it was like his whole word had ended in two short sentences. " _She's gone. In her sleep_."

"I have to go." Steve got up abruptly, dropping the Accords on the coffee table. The room was spinning and his ears buzzing. He walked out without a second word though he could hear Aspen following behind him and feel the others staring after him. He paused on the stairway, leaning his back against the cold railing and pinching the bridge of his nose as if he could stop the flow of tears that wanted to fall. Aspen reached him, coming up and placing a hand on his arm.

"Steve, what's wrong?" she asked, her tone low with worry.

He said nothing, but handed her his phone. She read the text silently, and then looked up at him, eyes glinting with the tears that were welling up. "No," she said. "No, no, no." She pressed her head into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. She was shaking with tears now, but somehow Steve couldn't cry though the tears had formed. He couldn't afford to break down right now. There was too much at stake. He wanted to throw it all out the window and mourn though. Three days to discuss the Accords yet Peggy dying was the only thing in his mind right now. Peggy Carter, his first love, a heroine, a friend he'd once thought he'd lost forever but had found again. How was the world still spinning when Peggy was no longer there? But she was still there. She was everywhere – her influence, her legacy, her kindness. She was such a big part of Steve's life that she would never truly be gone.

Neither of them had any words to express what they were feeling, so they didn't speak. They stood on the cold stairwell, Steve holding Aspen as she cried. This morning he had felt as if his world was beginning to crumble around him, but now it truly had.


	54. Funeral

**50 – Funeral – June 23, 2016**

It had been three days since the Accords had been presented to the Avengers, three days of arguing and debating and division. Aspen hadn't said much of anything after she and Steve had learned the news of Peggy's death. Aspen hadn't fully accepted it yet. Peggy hadn't been a part of her life for a long time, but she was one of the people Aspen had most respected and looked up to – a larger than life heroine and a kind and compassionate friend. She remembered the last time they had visited her. She'd nearly lost all her memories, but in the last minute she'd been coherent. She'd taken both their hands and asked how married life was going and if they'd found Bucky yet.

"He'll realize sooner or later that he needs you, that you're better together," she had told Steve. "He'll find his way home."

She'd stopped Aspen before they left, taking her hand and pulling her close. "Take care of him," she had told her. "I know you will, but he needs someone to remind him that it's all right to lean on someone from time to time." Aspen hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now she realized it had been Peggy's way of saying 'take care of him when I'm gone.'

Right now they were in London, and Aspen was staring out at the city from their hotel room, dressed in black for the funeral. Ironic that it fell on the same day as the signing of the Accords. She flattened out the dress, ignoring the way it stretch uncomfortably across her stomach. She told herself it had always fit a little tightly.

Steve was dressed in a black suit and tie. He'd been asked to be a pallbearer at the funeral, and Aspen watched him closely as he got ready. She knew he was feeling the stress of everything that had happened in the last three days. It was overwhelming. Aspen felt the strain too, and it wasn't helped by the fact that she hadn't told Steve – or even confirmed – that she might be pregnant. She couldn't think about that right now. It was too much on top of everything else. She willed it not to be true as if that could actually prevent it by a mere thought.

"Let me help," she said as Steve struggled with the tie. She saw his hands were shaking though he tried to hide it. She gently took the tie and finished it off for him, placing a hand over his heart when she was done. She didn't know what to say because she knew nothing would make any of this easier, so she put her arms around him, careful not to wrinkle his suit. He held her – or was she holding him – leaning his head on hers.

"We should go or we'll be late," he said, his tone flat. His eyes held a sadness she so rarely saw – not because he didn't feel sorrow, but because he never let it show when he did. There was no hiding how he was feeling now though. She took his hand, and they left the hotel room. They met Sam outside and took a cab to the church where the funeral was taking place. The ride was quiet, but not awkwardly so. Sam understood Steve better than most, and Aspen was grateful that he was with them. He'd volunteered to come with them the second Steve had told the team the news and that he'd be heading to London for the funeral. Sam knew what Peggy meant to Steve, and he put that above signing the Accords.

Aspen had hardly put any thought into the Accords. They weren't important right now, and she hated that they intruded on her and Steve's grief. She knew they couldn't be ignored even if they wanted to forget them. She knew without him telling her that Steve had no intention of signing them. That scared her. What scared her more was the thought of the team dividing over this. Things had been tense for a while, but the Accords had shaken them at the core, and she wasn't sure where anyone stood anymore. She understood why the government thought they needed to be under its control. They didn't like the idea of a group of people more powerful than them doing as they pleased. It was all about control. And fear. These people voting for the Accords were merely human. They wanted to put the Avengers under the control of a committee because they didn't like the idea of a group of people more powerful than them.

She knew Tony would sign, and it seemed as if Vision might too. She had a feeling Vision thought this was the way to be accepted. Rhodey had, of course, taken Tony's side. Aspen didn't think Wanda would let someone control her, and Sam certainly had no intention of signing. She wouldn't have ever thought Natasha would sign, but she wasn't so sure after Natasha had agreed with Tony. That had come as a surprise to all of them. She didn't like feeling so unsure. Her team had always been the one sure, reliable thing in her life, and Ross had come along and changed everything. To the world, they might just be names and titles, but the team was her family, her home. What right did other people have to tell them how to live, how to work?

She wouldn't sign them, consequences be damned. She wasn't in any mindset to make such an important, weighty decision, but she knew in her heart that the Accords were no solution. The world needed the Avengers, but the world had turned against them. They'd been warned to be careful, warned that public image was important. They hadn't gone out seeking to ruin their reputation, but all the world saw was the news footage and what was highlighted wasn't always the whole story. But now it was too late. They weren't getting another chance. She tried to remember when this downhill slope had started. Sokovia perhaps? Or maybe they had been doomed from the start. She felt a twinge of anger toward Tony. He'd been with them since the start, but now he was throwing them to the wolves. He had retired from the team, so why did she feel like he was still trying to control them?

By the time they reached the church, sorrow had been diluted by anger and frustration, and Aspen felt like she could hardly contain her emotions. She knew she could push them away, forget them for a moment, but instead she let them drive her on. Peggy would fight for what she believed in, so Aspen would do the same.

At first it had felt like they had no choice in the matter, but Aspen realized there was a choice. She could choose not to sign. Being an Avenger wasn't just a title. It was who she was down to her very core. Even Ross couldn't take that away. If he wanted to use the term vigilante, then fine. There were plenty of vigilantes out there who saved lives. Aspen thought of Amber and her team, and some of the last words Amber had said to her. _"If you stay on this team, your passion for saving people is only going to be stifled by laws and government organizations who want to tell you how to do your job. You're meant for more."_ Amber had been right. She'd looked at the world and seen that it wanted to control Aspen's team. Aspen just hadn't listened at the time, and now it was too late.

The car stopped, and they spilled out, Steve giving them both a nod before joining the other pallbearers. Aspen stuck close to Sam as they entered the church to find their seats. Peggy's daughter was in the front row – her son was one of the pallbearers – and Aspen greeted her, introducing herself and issuing condolences. She'd never had the chance to meet Peggy's children, but she'd seen pictures, heard stories.

She and Sam took seats in the front as well, saving a place for Steve. A memorial had been set up with pictures of Peggy, and Aspen felt tears welling up again. She forced them down this time. She needed to be strong for Steve. She knew he hadn't felt like he could mourn just yet with everything happening. She also knew that his heart was crushed and that he needed to let himself mourn the woman he'd once loved despite the fact that their lives were in upheaval.

Organ music started, and Aspen turned to see the pallbearers entering with Peggy's coffin. It was draped with the British flag, held up by five other men besides Steve. Steve's eyes were downcast, and she could tell he was trying hard not to cry. The slow procession moved its way up the aisle until it reached the front and the coffin was set gently down. Steve joined Aspen and Sam, and Aspen took his hand, giving it a squeeze.

The bishop stood up to say a few words about Peggy and then invited her niece to do the same. _Sharon Carter_. The name sounded awfully familiar though not in relation to Peggy. Aspen eyed the blonde woman who took the pulpit. Now she could remember her. She'd worked for SHIELD and had been there when Hydra had tried to take over. She'd been on Steve's side, but Aspen had had no idea she was related to Peggy. Sam nudged Steve who looked up, eyes widening in surprise. Clearly he hadn't known Sharon's relation to Peggy either. Sharon told a little about Peggy, going on to say that she was a lot to live up to which was why she'd never told anyone they were related.

"I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. She said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, 'No, you move.'"

Her words resonated, and Aspen could see that they moved Steve. She could see resolution hardening in his eyes. It was almost as if Peggy were speaking from the afterlife, telling him to follow his heart even if everyone was telling him to go the other direction.

After the service, when the church had cleared out, Steve told Sam and Aspen he needed a moment alone to think and that he'd meet them back at the hotel. Aspen hugged him tightly before following Sam out of the church. "Why is all this happening at once?" Aspen asked, wrapping her arms around herself. Sam put an arm around her shoulder.

"Life isn't fair," he said though she knew that well enough. "He's strong though. He's going to make it through."

"I saw his face when Sharon was quoting Peggy," Aspen told him. "He's not going to move."

"I know. Neither am I," Sam said. "He's never led me astray, so I'm not going to quit following him now."

"The team isn't ever going to be the same." The thought saddened her more than she could say though she'd become resigned to it over the last few days. It was like a nightmare, and she felt detached from her body as if she were watching this happen to someone else.

"No, it's not." There wasn't really anything more to say, so they flagged down a cab and left the church behind. As they went, Aspen felt as if she were leaving a little part of herself behind.

"Goodbye, Peggy," she whispered.

…

Steve stood in the empty church. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to leave yet. He heard footsteps behind him and thought that Aspen might have come back. He turned and found Natasha walking toward him, dressed in a crisp black suit and skirt. Leaning against the pew behind him, he waited for her to reach him.

"When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone." He looked up at the black and white photo of Peggy at the front of the church. "Then I found out she was alive… I was just lucky to have her."

"She had you back, too."

Steve nodded, looking down at the floor. He knew that even though he'd never discussed Peggy at length with Natasha, she understood. She'd lost people, too.

"After everything that happened with SHIELD, during my little hiatus…I went back to Russia and tried to find my parents." She'd never talked about her parents before. Steve watched her carefully as she continued. She shook her head sadly. "Two little gravestones by a chain link fence... I pulled some weeds and left some flowers. We have what we have when we have it."

"I'm sorry you didn't get to see them again," he told her. She nodded, a sad smile on her face.

"Maybe it was for the best. After everything I've done…"

"They would have still loved you," he told her. "Family forgives."

"I guess I found a new family." Steve knew that she wasn't here to talk about Peggy or her parents. She was here to try to keep her new family together.

"Who else signed?" he asked.

"Tony, Rhodey, Vision." She bobbed her head, looking a little lost. He could tell she didn't like the idea of them taking sides.

"Clint?"

"Says he's retired."

"Wanda?" He knew Wanda was on the fence. She still felt guilty about Lagos, and perhaps signing would be a way of repenting in her mind. He also knew she'd been controlled before and wasn't eager to repeat that.

"TBD. I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet." Her face was hopeful as she looked at him, and he could tell she wanted him to come, wanted him to sign so that they could stay a team like they always had been. They'd been together from the start, but now they were going down two very different paths. He sighed, keeping his gaze on the floor so he wouldn't have to see the hope in her eyes. "Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path." She stepped closer to him as she spoke, and he finally looked up at her. "Staying together is more important than how we stay together." He wished he could agree with her. He could see how badly she needed the team to stay the way it was. It was her home, her family. It was the stability she'd never had in her life.

"What are we giving up to do it?" Steve asked her. She sighed, shaking her head. The hope faded from her eyes, and he knew she understood that he wasn't going with her. She'd known all along, but she'd still allowed herself to hope that he might change his mind. "I'm sorry, Nat," he said shaking his head, "I can't sign it."

"I know."

"Well then what are you doing here?" She didn't have to come all the way here, but she had even though she knew he wouldn't change his mind.

"I just wanted to be here for you," she told him. "The Accords aren't going to change that."

He felt touched at her words. It had taken Natasha a long time to open up to him, but somewhere along the line they had become friends and then good friends. He trusted her, and she trusted him. He knew for her that was a big thing.

"Come here," she said, reaching out to wrap him in a hug. He let her hug him, putting his arms around her. Somehow this felt like a goodbye, and he wished he could convince her to stay. He wouldn't though. She had made her decision, and he would respect it.

…

"What's going to happen to us?" Aspen asked as she sat with Sam in the hotel café downstairs. She swilled the dregs of her tea in the bottom of the mug.

"Well, according to Ross, we retire." Sam leaned back in his chair. He'd draped his jacket over the back and loosened the tie around his neck.

"Hmm, I'm not sure retirement suits me. I don't have any hobbies. Oh wait, yes I do. Saving peoples' lives."

"I really wish I could just watch you and Ross argue because that would be really entertaining," he told her. "He wouldn't know what had hit him."

"It makes me physically sick to even think of him having a hand in controlling the Avengers. I heard all the terrible things he did when Bruce was still learning to control the Hulk. He basically hunted him down and then created his own version of a super soldier to take Hulk down. That did not go well. When Bruce once said he 'broke Harlem,' it was really Ross trying to capture him when Bruce hadn't done anything wrong. Bruce didn't like to talk about it, but he opened up a little one day. I could tell he blamed himself, but he told me what Ross did. He's a hypocrite. Of course everyone takes his side though because who would believe a giant green 'monster'?"

"People like him think they can get away with anything," Sam said disgustedly.

"And they can. I just can't believe Tony sided with him. I mean, Tony has never sided with the government before. Something is really off with him. He's not himself. He's turned into this completely unreasonable, passive-aggressive, _irritating_ person. The way he brought up that poor boy – Charlie Spencer's – death… Instead of just telling us like a normal human being, he has to build it up in his annoyingly Tony-Stark-patented way, making everyone feel like horrible people even if we didn't personally kill this boy. Of course we feel bad! I haven't forgotten that people died. But I also didn't invent the robot that killed them!" She realized she was raising her voice and took it down a tone. Still, her hands were shaking a little with fury she hadn't quite known she'd been feeling toward Tony. "Friends and teammates have each others backs, and he turned his back on us and threw us to the wolves. If he wants to take accountability for his mistakes in Sokovia, then fine, but I didn't invent Ultron, and I didn't ask for any of that to happen. Why should everyone have to pay?"

"They don't see us as individuals. They see us as a group. Forget that some of us had nothing to do with Ultron. We're all a threat if we continue to run loose. They can't differentiate our actions."

"I feel like our rights are being taken away from us. They're telling us how to live, how to work, who to save, when we can help and when we can't. How is that freedom? We're not the government's puppets." Tony Stark wouldn't allow himself to be a puppet, so why was he signing? "Tony probably thinks he can change the things he doesn't like about the Accords after he signs. Throw a few dollar signs around."

"Well, at least if it's just you, me, and Steve, we can move to Hell's Kitchen or something and work as vigilantes," Sam suggested.

"And beat up thugs by night and help little old ladies cross the street by day?"

"It'll be illegal for us to act as unauthorized heroes," Sam pointed out.

"Well, I started out life on the wrong side of the law. If it means going against Ross, then I'm in." She spoke with confidence, but her stomach twinged at the thought of going against the Accords. Now wasn't exactly the time to be destabilizing her life. Still, she strongly believed the Accords were not the solution, and if she were afraid of going against them then she wasn't standing up for what she believed in.

Steve joined them awhile later. He'd walked Sharon back to the hotel – she happened to be staying at the same one as them – and they had talked about Peggy along the way. Aspen noticed Steve looked better – less sad and more hopeful as happy memories buoyed him.

"I never got to thank you for standing up for Steve during the Hydra takeover," Aspen told Sharon, standing to introduce herself properly.

"He stands for the right thing," Sharon said. "Besides, I'd never let something that Aunt Peggy founded fall into Hydra's hands."

"Do you want to join us? We're just talking about the Sokovia Accords," Aspen invited.

"Aren't they signing soon?" Sharon asked, glancing at Steve.

"They are," he said.

Sharon nodded, accepting his words without question. Aspen's respect for her grew. "I think I'm going to go get changed," she said. "It's been a long day. Maybe we could all get a drink later if you're up for it."

"That sounds nice," Steve said with a smile.

"Nice to officially meet you," Aspen told her, giving her a wave as Sharon moved toward the elevator.

Steve took a seat, sighing heavily. "Natasha stopped by the church right after you left. She was headed to Vienna for the signing. She wanted me to go," he told them. "She doesn't want the team to separate."

"Well, neither do we, but that's not why we're refusing to sign," Aspen said. "I wish more than ever that everything could stay the way it was, but there's no going back now. She made her choice, and we've made ours." She sighed, realizing that all she wanted to do was go home to the Avengers' facility. Would they even be allowed to stay there anymore? Was she losing her home as well as her team? For the first time, she felt a twinge of doubt. Was she giving up everything just to be stubborn? No, she was standing up for what she believed in, and she wasn't backing down from that. Not after how hard they'd fought, not after everything they'd been through. Anyway, it was too late now. The signing would have already started, she realized as she checked the time. She hadn't realized they'd been sitting there for so long. Her tea had gone cold.

"It just happened so fast," Steve said. "I knew things were changing, but when Ross told us they'd be signing the Accords in three days…"

"None of us were prepared," Aspen said. "None of us had really though through the consequences of what we do."

"Maybe I was arrogant to think things could stay the same. I just thought if we were saving people, doing what we thought was right, that everyone would let us keep working the way we always had. I should have realized that was naïve."

"It felt like we were in our own world. All these years, I've felt a disconnect from the world. Maybe none of us realized just how much other people were watching us," Aspen told him. "Judging us and blaming us for the disasters we tried to prevent."

"Sorry to interrupt." Sharon had returned, and she looked tense, her face lined with worry. "There's something you need to see." They exchanged a look before following her up to her room where she had the TV set to a news channel. Aspen wasn't sure what she was seeing at first, but then she realized it was Vienna, and the United Nations building was on fire.


	55. Bucky

**Author's Note:** Oh boy, it has been a really long time since I last posted. Let's just say it's been an interesting last few months. Increasingly unhappy environment at one job to the point of me almost quitting. My manager said some really cruel things to me over the phone when I called to ask why my hours were getting cut with no explanation. Apparently everything is my fault because I CHOSE to work two jobs and it's hard for her to do the schedule and blah blah blah. Sorry I'm trying to pay my rent and bills. Then a month and a half ago a drunk driver hit my parked car outside my apartment and nearly totaled it. She did $6,000 worth of damage. She pushed it up onto the sidewalk, into my front yard and took off the bumper and smushed the quarter panel and popped a tire and bent the rear axel. Fun times. I literally had to run out in my pajamas in the middle of the night because she was trying to get away. I stood in the street so she couldn't and called the police. She got arrested. She's pleading not guilty though and refused to take the alcohol test. Good luck proving you weren't drunk. Still don't have my car back either. It's been at the body shop for a month and a half. I've been walking to both my jobs and relying on rides for going anywhere else. Fortunately her insurance covered everything, so I didn't have to pay a penny. Good thing my car is new enough to be worth more than the repairs otherwise I'd be out a ton of money and without a car... Cause I still owe a ton of money on it. It's just so frustrating when someone else does something stupid that affects your life. Could have been worse though. She could have hit someone or gotten to the highway and killed someone in an accident. Don't drink and drive, people!

But I'm powering through. Focusing on the positives like my love for my other job at the library and the decision to quit the job I no longer like before summer. I'll just have to figure out something else. Hopefully I get my car back in the next few days. I've been writing a lot lately in one of my books, but I decided I NEEDED to finish the chapter I'd started in this story. I won't take forever for the next one. I'm going to finish writing Civil War before Infinity Wars comes out. I was just watching the special features on the Spiderman: Homecoming DVD and Rappin' with Cap happened. "Stop, drop, and roll. Say it with me now!" That poor man...

* * *

 **51 – Bucky – June 23, 2016**

"You're going after him." It wasn't a question. Aspen knew Steve well enough to know that he would do anything to keep his friend safe. Sharon had given them the information they needed to track Bucky, and the people after him had orders to shoot on sight.

"He was framed. I'm not going to let them kill him."

"Of course not." The bombing in Vienna had been blamed on Bucky. Video surveillance picked up on the suspect, and the blurry image did resemble Bucky, but Steve knew there was no way his friend could have done this. But people had died, and the Winter Soldier was easy to blame. Why not after all Hydra had forced him to do?

"I just wanted you to know I support you," she told him. They were in Vienna now, readying themselves to follow Sharon's lead and fly to Bucharest where it was rumored the Winter Soldier was. Steve's heart hadn't stopped pounding since the second he'd heard the news. "But I also want to make sure you understand we're acting against the law. We need to be smart about this. I don't want to see Bucky hurt, but I don't want to see you hurt either."

"I'll be fine. I'm the only one who's going to be able to save him." Natasha had told him the Task Force would arrest him if he interfered. He was no longer officially an Avenger according to Ross and the Accords. It didn't matter anymore. Bucky was more important than a piece of paper, more important than laws. Bucky was innocent and right now only four people knew that. "You should go back home. I don't want you in the middle of this." He knew she wouldn't go, but he didn't want her to be arrested if this didn't go well.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said.

"I know."

In the jet, the flight took less than an hour. Romania came into view, and Steve felt a sudden burst of nerves. This was the closest he'd come to Bucky, though part of him wondered if this was going to be another false clue. Either way, he couldn't risk the Task Force getting their hands on Bucky first.

They set down on a flat rooftop, cloaking the jet. The city was huge, but they had a location on where Bucky might be laying low and were able to land close. "Sam, I need you on the roof across the street. Keep eyes on the building and tell me if anyone is coming. Aspen, I need you to get in touch with Clint and Wanda. Let them know what's happening and that we might need backup. Find out what's happening at home. I know you want to help with Bucky, but I can't have you getting hurt. Ideally we all get out, but there's a chance we get caught. If that happens, I need you to get to the jet and get backup. We can't all be caught if that happens. Watch the perimeter, but don't engage."

"You better not get yourself hurt," she told him. "This isn't like any other mission we've been on. This time we're working against the law, especially where Bucky is concerned."

"I'll be careful," Steve told her, but he made no promises. He didn't know if Bucky had shaken the Winter Soldier programming completely. He also knew he'd be arrested if he was caught. "We get Bucky; we get out. Hopefully the Task Force won't catch up to us. If they do then we improvise." Sam nodded and took flight. Steve gave Aspen a nod before heading toward the building where he hoped to find Bucky.

…

The city hummed with cars and pedestrians, and Aspen realized it was a good place for Bucky to blend in. The apartment building where he was supposedly staying was nondescript and rundown – the sort of place that was simply a roof over one's head rather than a home. She walked the perimeter, circling the block. She couldn't see anyone who looked out of place. She didn't think the Task Force would come in quietly though so perhaps they just hadn't arrived yet. Anxiety thrummed in her veins at the thought of people coming to kill Bucky. She had no doubt those same people would try to arrest Steve too. It hit her in that moment that they were no longer acting as heroes. They were no longer on a mission as Avengers. They were going against the law, against the freshly signed Sokovia Accords. There was no going back.

The thought nearly knocked the breath out of her, and she leaned back against the building behind her, the rough brick snagging her hair. There was something she needed to know if they were going down this one-way path. She needed to know if she was going to be dragging someone else down that road with her. She pushed off from the wall. Steve was in the building, but Sam hadn't spotted anyone coming after them yet. Aspen ran two blocks, back to where they'd passed a convenience store. Pushing the doors open, she forced herself to walk down the aisles until she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the package and headed to the counter. She knew Tony could probably trace her credit card if he really wanted to, but she didn't have any Romanian currency on her. The man at the counter gave her a sly grin as she made her purchase. She ignored him and politely asked if there was a bathroom in the building she could use. He pointed to the back of the store.

This wasn't how she imagined it. Not in a dirty bathroom in a foreign city, alone. Her hands shook as she unwrapped the package, reading the instructions carefully because she'd never even looked at one of these things before today. It was pretty straightforward. As she waited for the lines to appear on the little reader, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If it was negative then she had nothing to worry about. They'd get on with their lives, and if they ended up vigilantes, then so be it. If it was positive…well their lives were already changing, but she didn't want to be responsible for an extra life when theirs were in such upheaval.

She felt suddenly alone, wishing she'd done this before, done this with Steve. Hell, he didn't even know. She knew this was important to him, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to throw this at him when Bucky's life was at stake and half of their team had turned against them.

Her hands were shaking as she gripped the test. She looked at her reflection in the dirty bathroom mirror, seeing a scared little girl peering back at her. She knew she wasn't ready for this. Maybe she never would be, but maybe it wasn't about being ready. Maybe it was about accepting that life might have thrown her a curve and accepting it with as much grace and compassion as she could. Accepting it didn't change her circumstances though. She was standing in a cramped bathroom in a convenience store in Romania. Steve was chasing after Bucky who was currently a fugitive from the law whether or not he was guilty. In going after Bucky, Sam, Steve, and Aspen were now fugitives from the law as well. She couldn't go home, couldn't return to her team. Not unless she signed the Accords.

Maybe signing wasn't about what she believed but about what kind of future she wanted. They'd still be saving lives, still be Avengers. It would just be…different. She craved the safety net that came with it, but she knew Steve would never agree to sign. But maybe…maybe he would if he realized there was more at stake, that there might be another future already being disrupted by their actions. She'd never ask him to do that though.

The time for maybes had passed, so Aspen took a deep breath, glancing at her scared reflection before looking down at the test.

…

Bucky's flat was impersonal and sparse. It was one room, the kitchen small, the couch abutting the counter. There was a bed made up of a mattress and blankets on the floor in front of the couch. Newspaper covered every window, letting in weak daylight. As Steve stepped inside, he felt a wave of sorrow. There was nothing of Bucky's life in here, no memories, no comfort. It was a place where Bucky came to hide from his past. It tugged at his heart. This wasn't where his friend was meant to end up but he supposed if life had taken a different turn, Bucky would be dead. At least now he had a shot at redemption if only he would take it. If only he would let Steve help him.

Steve walked into the small kitchen, his eyes targeting a black notebook that rested on top of the refrigerator. He opened it and flipped through the pages. It felt like an invasion, but his need to know a little of what his friend was going through outweighed that. _"Heads up, Cap. German Special Forces approaching from the south,"_ came Sam's voice in his ear. He couldn't move though, his eyes set on the page that had fallen open. A flyer from the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian was taped to the page, proof that Bucky had been there. Had he remembered? He must have remembered something to have gone there.

"Understood," Steve said aloud to respond to Sam. He turned his head, sensing he was no longer alone though he hadn't heard anyone enter the room. His heartbeat picked up. It was Bucky, standing there watching Steve. Suddenly nothing else mattered.

"Do you know me?" Steve asked, hardly daring to hope that Bucky did. He was dressed like a civilian, his metal arm covered. His hair was still long – so different from the usual neat, short way he'd work it in the 40s – and covered with a baseball cap.

"You're Steve," Bucky said, voice so achingly familiar. It was the first time Steve had heard his friend say his name since the war. "I read about you in a museum." His hopes fell a little at Bucky's next words. Of course he knew the name from the exhibit. It had been too much to hope he'd known it from his own memories. _"They've set the perimeter."_ He knew they needed to go, but he wasn't going to let Bucky leave without him again.

Steve set the notebook down on the counter. "I know you're nervous," he said, taking a step toward Bucky. "And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying." He might have read about Steve in the museum, but he'd also pulled him from the Potomac. He'd saved his life even though it had been his mission to kill Steve. That was remembering. It had to be.

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore," Bucky told him. His voice was flat, but Steve thought he could hear pain in it, taut and carefully contained.

" _They're entering the building."_

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now, and they're not planning on taking you alive." Bucky nodded, accepting his words.

"That's smart. Good strategy." They could hear footsteps on the roof above them now and, as Bucky looked up, Steve could see he was readying himself to run.

" _They're on the roof. I'm compromised."_ He could hear footsteps outside the apartment too, running up the stairs.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck."

Bucky moved toward the door. The men were right outside now. "It always ends in a fight." He sounded resigned, weary. He'd been running for so long, fighting for so long and not for his own cause.

" _Five seconds."_

"You pulled me from the river," Steve said, desperate to convince Bucky. If this turned into a fight then there was no going back.

Bucky pulled a glove from his metal hand. The silver glinted, and Steve knew there was no convincing him.

"Why?" He still had to try even though they were out of time.

"I don't know." Bucky looked straight at him. There was confusion there in his blue eyes, but also familiarity, understanding. There was something of the old Bucky there that Steve hadn't seen before. _"Three seconds."_

"Yes, you do."

" _Breach! Breach! Breach!"_

A flash grenade came sailing through the window as Sam shouted into his ear. Steve batted it with his shield as a second broke through the glass of another window. It landed at Bucky's feet, and he kicked it toward Steve. Steve slammed the shield down over it as it exploded. There was a shout outside the door and pounding as the German forces tried to break in. Another grenade flew in through the window, and Bucky pulled up the mattress from the floor to block it. The pounding was more insistent now as the door began to give.

Bucky grabbed his table and threw it against the door to jam it. Glass shattered a second later as two men came through the windows feet first. Bucky punched one, and Steve slid his shield under the other's feet, tripping him so his gunfire hit the ceiling instead of his friend. Bucky flung a man at the wall, rendering him unconscious. The man who Steve had tripped was aiming his gun at Bucky again, so Steve grabbed the gun, pointing it upward. Bucky came hurling at him, kicking the man's stomach and sending him flying back out the back door that led to a small balcony.

"Buck, stop!" Steve grabbed Bucky's shoulder. It wouldn't help Bucky's case if someone got killed. Bucky ducked out of Steve's grip. "You're gonna kill someone."

A second later he was flat on the floor, Bucky's metal hand on his chest. He'd forgotten how strong he was, somehow. Bucky raised his metal fist, and Steve winced, putting up a protective arm over his face, expecting a blow. Instead, Bucky broke the floorboards next to Steve's head.

"I'm not gonna to kill anyone." He drew a black backpack from below the floorboards and tossed it out the open window. Another man came in through the far window, and Bucky blocked his gunfire with his metal arm. Steve got to his feet, thrusting his shield out in front of the both of them. Another shooter was entering one of the windows, and Steve felt strong arms pushing him forward into the shooter. The force of it sent them both through the wall and onto the concrete balcony. He disarmed the shooter, but the men outside the door sounded close to breaking through. A sudden splintering told him the door had been broken through, but he found it in the hallway outside as if Bucky had punched it outward. Already there were unconscious bodies strewn around the staircase. He leaned over the railing where he could see Bucky down below, fighting his way through. One of the men was sitting in the hall, speaking in rapid German into a walkie-talkie. Steve snatched it from him, crushing it in his hand. He took a deep breath before launching himself from the railing, landing beside Bucky. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to let them kill his friend.

…

" _We've been compromised. Aspen, are you there?"_ Steve's voice was quiet in her ear as if he was trying not to be overheard. Sam had been keeping her updated as Steve had chased after Bucky and the mysterious man dressed in a black cat suit who'd appeared, trying to kill Bucky as well. The German Special Forces had caught up to them, and Aspen knew there was no going back from Steve's decision to help Bucky escape. When he had refused to sign the Accords, he'd been crossing a line, but now he was so far over it that there was no mistaking where he stood. She felt a surge of pride along with a swell of fear. Steve would protect his friends no matter what the cost.

But there was fear too. "I'm here," she said softly. She was standing on the rooftop across from Bucky's apartment, looking at the shattered glass and other evidence of a fight.

" _Stay away. I don't want you getting arrested too,"_ he told her.

"I'll get the jet, and I'll follow you," she told him. "Just…be careful."

" _You too."_

She hurried back to where they'd left the jet, putting it in stealth mode before taking off and following after Steve, the tracking device in his suit telling her just where he was. There was a line of police cars, lights flashing as they drove through the city streets. She half wanted to open fire and stage a rescue, but she didn't want to get them in more trouble than they were already in. Instead she followed.

They drove to an airfield where she saw her teammates being transferred to a plane. She was too far up to see anything in detail, but she could tell Steve and Sam were in custody, not just along for the ride. Bucky followed, restrained, and then the man in the black cat suit. She saw Rhodey, too, in his War Machine suit. His eyes looked upward for a moment, and she was afraid his suit could see through her stealth mode, but then he looked away, following her teammates onto the plane. She called Clint to tell him what has happening; she'd forgotten to earlier, too distracted and confused to think clearly. He said he'd get Wanda and come to her. Clint was always on her side, and she felt a little better after talking to him.

It was a two-hour flight that took them to Berlin, Germany. Aspen landed the jet across the street from the building Steve, Sam, and Bucky were transported to. They had been moved to military-grade vehicles once they'd landed. The Task Force wasn't taking any chances, but she knew Steve wasn't going to fight them. Not unless they tried to hurt Bucky. Joint Counter Terrorist Centre, the building declared itself to be. Aspen scowled at the thought of Bucky being transported here, but she reasoned that not everyone knew the Winter Soldier had been brainwashed or that he was really Steve's best friend or that he'd changed. People were scared and eager to place blame.

She crouched on the edge of the roof, watching as the trucks went through a security checkpoint and then down underneath the building, out of her sight. If Rhodey was with them then it followed that the rest of the Avengers might be too or at least some of them. Tony would definitely be involved. Natasha? Aspen pulled out her phone and put through a call to the redheaded Avenger.

"Aspen? Where are you?" Natasha answered. Aspen could hear a hint of worry and tension in her voice.

"On the rooftop across from where Steve is," Aspen told her. "Wondering if I'm ever going to see him again."

"Were you involved with all this?" Natasha asked.

"With what, exactly? All I saw was people trying to kill an innocent man. Bucky didn't bomb Vienna. Why would he?"

"Who knows how much of his Winter Soldier programming is still inside his mind," Natasha told her, voice soft, gentle. She knew it was a sore subject for Steve and, in turn, Aspen.

"It wasn't him," Aspen insisted. "He was hiding, trying to get away from what he's done. He had no reason to bomb the UN."

"Whether he did or not, Steve just very publically detained German Special Forces in their attempts to capture Bucky. He acted outside the Accords which he didn't sign wearing a suit that's associated with the Avengers. People were hurt, and Bucky didn't exactly make it look like he was innocent by running."

"They were shooting at him! They were going to kill him. What was he supposed to do?"

"Look, I'm on your side. I don't want to see him get hurt, especially if he's innocent, but this isn't just going to go away."

"Are you? On my side? Are there sides now?" Aspen asked, the hurt she was trying to keep quiet slipping into her voice.

"There's working with the law and against the law, and Steve chose the latter."

"It used to be about saving lives and stopping the bad guys. That's why the Avengers were formed, so we could handle threats ordinary people couldn't. It was never about letting the government tell us what we could and couldn't do."

"It's still about helping people, but we can't turn a blind eye to what the Winter Solider has done even if Bucky is still in there." She paused, and Aspen heard someone speaking in the background.

" _Is that Aspen? Let me talk to her."_

Suddenly Natasha's voice was gone, replaced by Tony's and there was nothing soft or regretful about it. "Aspen, you want to tell me just what exactly you were thinking? What exactly _Steve_ was thinking? I'm honestly not sure you could have made this any worse."

His words stung. She knew Tony could be callous, unfeeling, careless with his words, but he'd never used that against her before. Not like this. "He was thinking that the world has wrongly accused Bucky of a crime he didn't commit. He was thinking he needed to protect his friend."

"Do you know the body count? Do you want to know just how many lives the Winter Soldier took? Do you realize how it would look if we just wrote him off?" He sounded frustrated, tired, confused. Aspen didn't feel any sympathy though. She was tired of him taking out whatever emotions he had on other people. It was never his fault, never something he'd done that had caused something bad to happen; it was always someone else. She was tired of no one holding him accountable for his own actions.

"If everyone had to be judged for their pasts, for the lives that they'd taken or that've been taken because of them, then none of us would be Avengers. I know you wouldn't." She spoke the words slowly, enunciating them so there was no mistaking the sincerity of them. Tony had sold weapons before he'd become Iron Man. He wasn't clean. None of them were including herself. Steve and Bucky were war heroes at least. They'd saved lives from the start. It wasn't Bucky's fault Hydra had changed him into something he'd once fought against.

"You just don't think about the consequences before you act. I'm not the one calling the shots anymore. Cap isn't either. I'm not sure you understand that yet." His tone was surprisingly soft despite her jab at him. "I don't have the power to make this all go away."

"But that's just it. You have so much more power than you admit to. That's part of why you agreed to the Accords so readily. You figured you could work out the parts you didn't like later. You can wave your money and your prestige around, and people will do anything for you. But instead of fighting for the Avengers, you hand them over. You lie down, roll over, and make sure the government knows it can count on you while secretly still holding all the cards. You don't play by the rules though, Tony. You never do so why is it so wrong when Steve tries to save his friend? Why is it so wrong that he tries to keep the government goons who came after Bucky from killing an innocent man?"

"You're young. You don't understand how this world works, how the government works. If we don't play nicely, they're going to make sure we're done. The only way to maintain some control is to let them think they have control."

"I understand how this world works better than you know. I know that you think you have control and that they think they have control and sooner or later it's going to come down to keeping up that illusion or saving a life. I know where I stand."

She hung up, tucking her phone away and standing. She hadn't wanted there to be sides, hadn't wanted her team to be split up like this. Tony had given her no choice though. The game he was playing wasn't going to hurt him, but it was going to hurt the people who needed unsanctioned help. He'd lost sight of the mission, lost sight of the world they lived in. She put a hand over her stomach for a moment, her fingers trembling. Whatever happened next, she refused to lose sight of the world she wanted to live in. She refused to stop fighting for it. Whatever it took, she'd keep fighting.


	56. Choosing Sides

**Author's Note:** Two chapters in one day? Yep. I worked on my story most of the day today. I'll work on it tomorrow too!

* * *

 **52 – Choosing Sides – June 23, 2016**

Tony was at the center Steve, Sam, and Bucky were taken to. Natasha too. Steve wasn't entirely sure if they planned on charging him with something or if Tony had pulled enough strings to get them off. The Deputy Task Force Commander, Everett Ross, had met them after they'd arrived, laughing off Steve's suggestion that Bucky have a lawyer. Apparently, though the Avengers were now expected to act under the government's jurisdiction, the law did not afford Bucky any rights. Ross had made it clear he thought the repercussions for Steve and Sam's actions should be greater. Sharon was there too, but Steve knew her hands would be tied. She'd helped them enough already.

They'd taken Bucky away, contained in a portable cell. He hadn't tried to fight anyone from the moment they'd been cornered in Bucharest after Steve had chased him halfway across the city along with the man in the black cat suit who had turned out to be, T'Challa, the new king of Wakanda. T'Challa thought Bucky had murdered his father who had died during the bombing in Vienna. As they'd taken Bucky away, Steve could see the fear in his eyes behind a calm mask. He knew Bucky, and Bucky knew that his past was working against him and that these people considered him a threat. There was no convincing Ross or his people that Bucky wasn't a threat, but perhaps someone else would listen to him.

Tony still had pull, but would he use it to help Bucky?

"For the record, this is what making things worse looks like," Natasha said, falling into step with Steve.

"He's alive." That's what mattered most to him. If he hadn't gone, then the Task Force would have shot Bucky on sight. That was the order after all. Natasha said nothing, but he knew she was aware of how much Bucky meant to him. She'd been with him after he'd first discovered that Bucky was still alive. She'd seen just what it had done to him to see his best friend turned into a weapon by Hydra.

"Aspen called me," Natasha said softly so that only Steve could hear. "She's worried about you."

"Does she have a reason to be?" he asked her. They'd taken his shield and Sam's wings, but there were no handcuffs around his wrists, no shackles around his ankles.

"Believe it or not, we're not doing this to hurt you." Natasha sounded tired, and he knew she'd been trying to keep this from happening, trying to keep him out of this mess. But if it meant Bucky was alive, then he was right where he was meant to be.

Doors ahead slid open, and Steve saw Tony, dressed impeccably as usual, speaking angrily into a phone. His anger wasn't directed at the person on the other line, he realized as soon as Tony's eyes met his, but at him. "No," Tony said forcefully. "Romania was not Accords-Sanctioned."

Of course he'd want to make that clear. Tony wasn't fond of bad publicity after all. The image of the Avengers had always been important to him. Sometimes more important to him than the job itself, Steve thought.

"Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup."

Natasha looked back at them as they entered the room. "Try not to break anything while we clean this up," she said as if it were that easy to fix this.

"Consequences?" Tony said, looking directly at Steve. "You bet there'll be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir." He hung up, walking up to Sam and Steve.

"'Consequences'?" Steve asked, not really believing Tony would do anything to them. He was mad, yes, but Steve and Tony were usually at odds. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

"Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted," Tony told them. "Had to give him something.

"I'm not getting that shield back, am I?" Steve asked.

"Technically it's the government's property," Natasha told him. "Wings, too."

"That's cold," Sam shot back.

"Warmer than jail," was Tony's response.

There was something comfortable about the conversation – it was almost a banter and the familiarity of it tugged at Steve's heart. He had to remind himself how he'd gotten here. He still had to convince Tony to help Bucky. Across the room there were monitors, and Steve could see Bucky in his cell. They'd sent a psychologist to speak with him. Perhaps the psychologist would be able to tell if the Winter Soldier conditioning was still in Bucky's mind. Tony and Natasha moved on to another room, leaving Sam and Steve alone.

"How did he seem to you?" Sam asked, nodding to the monitor that showed Bucky.

"Confused. Scared. But I know he remembered me. I think he's just been running for so long that's all he knows to do anymore."

"It'll be hard to convince Ross – either Ross – that he's innocent. They're determined to link him to Vienna," Sam told him.

"It's not impossible to prove he wasn't there," Steve said. "Anyway, Hydra's not pulling his strings anymore. What would his motive have been?"

"I'm not sure they really care about motive. They know he has a rep, and he's an easy scapegoat. The world will feel safer knowing the Winter Soldier is in custody. They're not going to question whether or not the bombing was someone else."

It was a hard truth, but Sam was right. "Hey, you and Tony have a lot to discuss. I'm going to go see if this place has any coffee. Whatever your next move, just know I'm with you."

"Natasha said she talked to Aspen. If you see her again, can you ask if she'll tell Aspen we're okay?" Steve asked.

"Of course."

"Hey, you wanna see something cool?" Tony reentered the room, and Steve turned to him. He was holding a flat box in his hand. "I pulled something from Dad's archives. Felt timely." Steve took a seat at the table, letting Tony talk. Tony tossed his jacket aside and opened the box, setting it on the table beside Steve. Two fountain pens sat nestled in dark velvet. "FDR signed the Lend-lease bill with these in 1941. Provided support to the Allies when they needed it the most."

"Some would say it brought our country closer to war." Steve said, glancing at the pens and back up at Tony. He could see how patient Tony was trying to be, but his tone grew shorter as he spoke again.

"See? If not for these, you wouldn't be here. I'm trying to…what do you call it?" He took a seat across from Steve. "That's an olive branch. Is that what you call it?" He rubbed his chin, characteristic of when he was losing patience quickly.

"Is Pepper here?" Steve asked, glancing around. "I didn't see her." He wasn't ready to talk about truces or olive branches. He wondered where Pepper stood on all this. He didn't know her well, but she'd always been Tony's voice of reason, and he'd always thought Tony was his better self when she was around.

"We're kinda…" Tony hesitated. He didn't seem to be able to find the words, motioning aimlessly with his hands. "Well, not kinda…"

"Pregnant?" Steve took a guess as Tony continued to struggle.

"No. Definitely not. We're taking a break. It's nobody's fault." Tony's words were casual, but Steve could hear the underlying sadness in his voice.

"I'm so sorry, Tony. I didn't know." When had they grown so apart? They'd never been close, but he liked to think he knew Tony. Now he wasn't so sure they'd ever been that kind of friend to each other.

"A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up Hydra…and then Ultron. My fault. And then, and then, and then I never stopped. Because the truth is, I don't want to stop." He paused. "I don't want to lose her. I thought maybe the Accords could split the difference." He sat back, looking resigned.

It was all making more sense now, Tony's quick decision to sign the Accords with very little discussion with the team. He thought it might win Pepper back, show her that he was letting go just a little bit. It placed more responsibility with the government, less on him, less on the team. As Natasha had said, _"If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off…"_ If Tony had both hands on the wheel then he was stuck in the endless cycle Pepper wanted him to break – building suits, going on missions, fighting enemy after enemy. If he had one on the wheel then he didn't have to give up his suits, but he also passed on some of the responsibility. It didn't sound like it had been enough though.

"In her defense, I'm a handful," Tony said with a forced smile, rising from the chair. He walked across the room, shoving his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. "Yet, Dad was a pain in the ass, but he and Mom always made it work."

"You know, I'm glad Howard got married. I only knew him when he was young and single." He reminded him a lot of Tony though perhaps a little more uninhibited.

"Oh, really? You two knew each other? He never mentioned that," Tony said, sarcasm thick. "Maybe only a thousand times." He grabbed the jacket to his suit, pulling it on. "God, I hated you."

With Tony, it was hard to track his moods, but Steve felt it shifting again. He knew Howard had talked about him a lot while Tony was growing up, but Tony's words still stung. He suddenly felt like they were strangers, like they were just meeting for the first time like on the Helicarrier before the Battle of New York.

"I don't mean to make things difficult."

"I know, because you're a very polite person," Tony said, tone lighter.

"If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it," Steve said. Tony moved to the other side of the table, eyes hard now when Steve turned to meet them. "Sometimes I wish I could."

"No, you don't," he said, his voice disbelieving.

Steve smiled to himself. Maybe Tony knew him better than he thought. "No, I don't," he admitted. Steve had never been one to sit and let something happen if he felt it was wrong. His memory flashed back to a time when he'd still been small, fragile. He'd told a bully to shut up during a newsreel before a movie back in Brooklyn and had ended up in the alley taking a few good punches. Bucky had showed up and saved him though Steve had insisted he could have handled it himself. He couldn't help but interfere when he saw something happening that he thought needed to change. He knew he was stubborn, and he knew Tony was stubborn. When they didn't agree on something, you could cut through the tension between them with a butter knife.

"Sometimes…" he started, but Tony cut him off.

"Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth. But I don't wanna see you gone," he said with a shrug. "We need you, Cap." There were no easy answers. Steve didn't agree with the Accords, didn't think Tony had made the right call on this, but he didn't want to lose his team altogether.

"So far nothing's happened that can't be undone, if you sign." He pointed at the pens, the symbolic pens he'd brought to be an olive branch. Peace came at a price. It didn't come free. "We can make the last 24 hours legit. Barnes gets transferred to an America psych-center instead of a Wakandan prison." There was a note of pleading in his voice. Steve looked down at the pens, reaching out to lift one from the case. Tony wasn't being unreasonable. Wasn't this exactly what Steve wanted? Bucky safe. Bucky treated fairly. Tony was offering him that. Steve hadn't even had to ask. He got up from the chair, holding the pen in his fingers as he walked across the room. It was smooth and cold, the nib ending in a sharp, silver point. He turned to glance at Tony who looked anxious to hear Steve's decision. Steve knew exactly what Tony wanted him to say, and it frustrated Tony that it wasn't that easy.

"I'm not saying it's impossible," Steve started, weighing the pen in his hand. If Tony wanted him back badly enough, maybe Steve could turn the situation in his own favor. In Bucky's favor. In his team's favor. "But there would have to be safeguards."

"Sure." Tony's tone was eager. He sensed that Steve was changing his mind. "Once we put out the PR fires, those documents can be amended." He sat down in the chair Steve had vacated. "I'd file a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated…"

"Wanda?" Steve asked sharply. "What about Wanda?" She hadn't signed the Accords, but she wasn't involved with this. As far as Steve knew, she was back at the Avengers facility with Vision. She'd done nothing wrong.

"She's fine. She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company." Tony said it so casually that Steve realized he really had no idea what was wrong with that.

"Oh, God, Tony. Every time, every time I think you see things the right way…" He paced across the room before turning to brandish the pen at Tony.

"It's 100 acres with a lap pool," Tony spoke over him as if the luxury of the compound made it all right to imprison her there. "It's got a screening room. There's worse ways to protect people."

Steve leaned a hand on the back of one of the chairs. "Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony."

"She's not a US citizen," Tony argued, his voice raising.

"Oh, come on, Tony." It was a weak excuse, but Tony kept going.

"And they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction."

"She's a kid!" Steve snapped. He wanted to add that it was a Stark weapon that had killed her parents and left her and her twin orphans. It was Ultron, Tony's creation, that had wreaked destruction on Sokovia, destroying her home. It was Ultron who had shot down her brother, ending his life before it had hardly begun. The Avengers were all Wanda had now, and Tony still seemed to think of her as a weapon instead of a person.

"Give me a break!" Tony yelled, brow furrowed in frustration and anger. Whatever patience he'd had before was gone, worn down by Steve's arguments. He'd thought he was winning, but now things weren't going his way. "I'm doing what has to be done," he said, controlling his voice. Steve could tell he actually believed the words coming out of his mouth. "To stave off something worse."

Steve nodded. He understood perfectly. "You keep telling yourself that," he told Tony. Despite Tony's assertions that things would change, they hadn't. They wouldn't. He could see that perfectly well now. Tony broke eye contact. He knew he'd lost this argument, and he wasn't going to try to convince Steve further.

"Hate to break up the set." Steve dropped the pen on the table in front of Tony and left the room without another word. He'd do this without Tony's help. He'd find a way to save Bucky.

…

Aspen was pacing outside the doors to the Joint Counter Terrorist Center when Natasha opened the door and motioned for her to come in. Aspen eyed the security warily, but Natasha shook her head. "No one's going to arrest you," she said, her voice wry. "As far as we can tell, you had nothing to do with Bucharest."

Aspen entered the building, bolting through the doors before anyone could change their mind and kick her back out. "How is he?" she asked, following Natasha as she led Aspen into a sort of food court. A series of round tables were set in the open space. Natasha motioned for her to sit.

"Which 'he' are you referring to?" Natasha asked, leaning against the back of one of the chairs.

"All of them, I suppose."

"Sam is indignant his wings got taken away, Steve is fuming at Tony, and Bucky is due for a psych evaluation at any minute. So pretty well considering."

"They're not going to give Bucky a fair trial. They're not going to give him anything. All they see is Hydra's weapon," Aspen said, splaying her fingers out on the table and picturing the last time she'd seen Bucky. He'd saved her life once. That wasn't the last time she'd seen him though. The last time, he'd been trying to kill her, hands wrapped around her neck until she'd used her abilities to invade his mind and loosen his grip. She'd seen both sides of him. "He's escaped Hydra's mind control before, you know. When I was taken to Canada by Doctor Rinehart, Bucky saved my life. He was under Hydra's control at first, but he was strong enough to shake off the mind control. I didn't realize it was him at the time. I'd seen pictures, but I never would have guessed…"

"But it didn't last."

"He went back. Looking for answers. I should have stopped him…" The man she'd gotten to know called himself James, unable to remember Bucky then. He'd been a friend to her. She knew that part of him was still strong. He'd never lost himself, just forgotten.

"Speaking as someone who's experienced mental manipulation before," Natasha said slowly, "I know it can be hard to shake. Sometimes it just takes a word to trigger the programming. It's not just as easy as waking up one day and remembering who you used to be."

"You're saying he can't be saved. Or are you saying he shouldn't?" Aspen narrowed her eyes. She wasn't used to this version of Natasha, so calm and diplomatic.

"I'm saying I don't know," Natasha told her with a stiff smile. "But I do know Steve is never going to give up on saving him."

"Nor would I expect anything less," Aspen said proudly. "Can I see him?"

"I don't have jurisdiction here. I don't think Ross would thank me for letting you in. I'm sorry."

"General Ross is here?"

"Different Ross. Same attitude. Just stay here. I'll see what I can do."

Aspen watched her go, feeling snubbed. She knew Natasha was trying to protect her, but it hurt to be left out. She was a part of this too. Her phone buzzed, and she looked down to see she had a message from Clint.

 _Just got to Avengers compound. Staging distraction to get Vision away from Wanda. Wish me luck._

Aspen typed her reply _. In Berlin now. Everyone's in custody except me. Debating whether or not to get arrested for throwing a chair at a window._

 _Probably not a good idea. Splodie arrow just went off. Gotta go._

Aspen sat back with a sigh. Everyone was doing something useful except her. She felt powerless with no idea how to help any of her teammates. She didn't even know what was happening. She'd sat there ten, maybe fifteen minutes with no word from Clint or Natasha or anyone when the power suddenly went out. Red emergency lights flashed to life a moment later, intermittently lighting up. Aspen sat up straight, clutching her phone. Something had gone wrong.


	57. Longing, Rusted, Seventeen

**53 – Longing, Rusted, Seventeen – June 23, 2016**

The power blinked out before red emergency lights began to flash. Steve looked around, surprised. Then again, something had felt off about all this. It had seemed too perfectly set up – Bucky being framed for the bombing, the Task Force going after him, his custody here in Berlin… It was like someone had laid out the pieces and watched them all come together. Right before the power had gone out, Steve had been watching the video of the psychologist speaking with Bucky. Sharon had turned on the sound so Steve could listen to the conversation. Something had tugged in the back of his mind, however; something he couldn't quite explain. Everything had led up to a single point, and this man was, so far, the only person who'd spoken to Bucky. Now the video screens had gone out, and they couldn't see what was happening in that room.

Steve turned to Sharon who looked just as alarmed as he felt. "Sub-level five, East-Wing," she told him.

He and Sam sprinted from the room before anyone could try to stop them though no one's attention seemed to be on them. Steve knew he had to get to Bucky or something bad was going to happen. He didn't want to see his friend hurt again. He couldn't lose him again. By the time he and Sam reached sub-level five, there were dozens of bodies strewn about the floor, all armed guards. Steve bent down to check for a pulse. It was faint, but the guards seemed to still be alive.

"Help me," came a faint voice from the next room over. "Help."

The psychologist was laid flat on the floor next to the broken containment unit Bucky had been in. "Get up," Steve said, striding toward the psychologist. He grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to his feet and shoving him against the wall. The man no longer looked frightened. The look in his eyes was almost calculating.

"Who are you?" Steve asked. "What do you want?"

There was something knowing in the man's eyes now as he spoke as if everything was going according to his plan whatever that was. "To see an empire fall."

Steve didn't have time to process the words. Sam gave out a shout, and Steve turned to see Bucky driving his metal fist into the doorway where Sam's head had been a moment before. The wall crumbled under the force of his blow. Sam was up again, blocking a blow, but Bucky was ruthless, jabbing him in the stomach and then grabbing his chin and flinging him across the room like Sam was light as a feather. Sam went crashing into the containment unit, collapsing to the floor.

This wasn't Bucky. This was the Winter Soldier. Somehow the doctor had triggered his programming. Bucky swung straight at Steve's head, and he barely ducked in time, feeling the force of the blow overhead. He punched back at Bucky, handing a blow on the side of his head and leaping back as Bucky swept a fist at him in retaliation. He flew backwards across the floor as Bucky kicked him hard in the stomach. It hurt. Steve wasn't used to feeling that kind of pain when he fought, but Bucky was just as strong as him. Steve didn't want to hurt him, but he knew, as the Winter Soldier, Bucky had no compunctions about hurting him. He scrambled to his feet, batting away a kick with his hand before aiming a kick back at Bucky. Again he barely managed to duck away as Bucky's fist came swinging at him. His arm reverberated with pain as he blocked a blow from Bucky's metal hand and then another. Bucky managed to kick him in the stomach again, sending him backward against the metal doors to the elevator. His metal fist dented the door as it hit where Steve's head had been a moment before. He knew from experience how painful a blow to the face from that metal fist was.

Bucky tried to punch him in the chest, but Steve caught his metal hand, pushing back. His muscles strained, and he gritted his teeth. Then Bucky pushed back hard enough to send Steve flying through the metal doors. The force knocked the breath out of him as he tumbled down the elevator shaft. He hit the wall hard before landing on the concrete floor at the very bottom of the elevator shaft. His vision went black with pain. He was vaguely aware of Bucky walking away, but he couldn't bring himself to get up. His head was clouded with pain, and he lost consciousness a moment later.

It didn't last long. He woke with a groan. An alarm was blaring somewhere up above him, and he pushed himself up, his back aching from where Bucky had thrown him through the elevator doors. He struggled to his feet, stumbling a little as his vision blackened, but already his body was beginning to heal and nothing was broken. He shrugged off his leather jacket and looked up to the floor above where the damaged doors gaped open. He grabbed the thick cable that ran upwards and pulled himself up to the next floor. He didn't know if Bucky had a destination in mind, but he knew he'd try to run. It was what he did. If he got away then he'd disappear, and Steve might never find him again. He tried to put himself in Bucky's shoes. Where would he go? What route would offer him the cleanest escape? He could lose himself in a crowd, but people knew his face. He might not get far, and he had nowhere to go in Berlin. They'd been flown in to Berlin. There would be a landing pad on the roof, perhaps a helicopter or small plane. Bucky could get away, and no one would be able to catch up to him. He could go anywhere.

Steve knew if he had guessed wrong, then Bucky could escape and never be found again. He had to choose though. He ran for the stairs and hoped he was right.

…

It didn't take long for chaos to ensue. Aspen wanted to find Steve, but she had no idea where to begin her search. It was a giant building, and there were too many bodies for her to narrow it down. "What's going on?" she asked a guard who went racing past, but he didn't even look her way. More guards raced past, and Aspen decided to follow after them as they were most likely to be running toward the danger. She stopped short when she saw a figure emerge, striding toward the guards without hesitation. He took them out in two seconds flat, metal arm flashing. Aspen stood, wordlessly, unable to move.

It was Bucky. Only it wasn't Bucky. It was the Winter Solider somehow reborn, and there was nothing familiar in his eyes now. He was trying to escape, and Steve was nowhere in sight. She knew she had to try to stop him, and normally she wouldn't have hesitated. She knew she could protect herself well enough, but she hesitated for too long. Bucky had reached her, and she hadn't moved a finger to stop him. He swept an arm at her as if to bat her out of the way, and she threw up a shield of energy. His arm – his non-metal arm – paused mid-air, and he gave her a confused look. Then suddenly his metal arm swung at her. She flung it backwards with an energy surge. She might not have been a threat before, but now she was and she could see the light change in Bucky's eyes as he moved to fight her. She swung out a fist, and Bucky let it hit his shoulder. He seemed to barely register it, but Aspen's fist surged with pain. She kicked out, using her energy to give more force to the blow, and he stumbled backwards, surprise flitting across his face.

"Bucky!" she said his name. "Bucky, this isn't you. Remember who you are." She thought she saw something in his eyes – familiarity, remembrance? But then he was grabbing a chair and flinging it at her. She ducked, but in the few precious seconds it took her to, Bucky grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and flung her onto a table. She was winded, and it took her a moment to react. He didn't try to choke her like the last time though.

They both winced a second later as an ear-splitting sound cut the air. Aspen looked up to see Tony standing there in his suit and tie with an Iron Man glove on one hand. He shot a bright light at Bucky, and he ducked down, temporarily blinded. Aspen slid off the table as Tony came at Bucky.

Tony managed to block Bucky's blow, but suddenly Bucky had a gun – one he must have taken off of one of the guards – and he raised the gun to Tony's head. Aspen cried out, but the glove took the blow, and Tony was unharmed. He broke the gun with his own metal hand, rendering the weapon useless. He managed to strike a blow to Bucky's face, but Bucky punched him hard in the chest, sending him skidding backwards into a chair and to the floor. Sharon Carter came flying out of nowhere, jumping into the fight, and Aspen took the chance to run over to Tony.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He blinked up at her, a little dazed.

"Forget what I said earlier. _This_ is worse. Your plan was terrible, but this is worse," he said, watching as Natasha joined Sharon in the fight. Bucky threw Sharon into a table and Natasha flung herself at him with a trademark Black Widow move.

"Something happened to trigger his Winter Soldier programming!" Aspen snapped. "You obviously don't understand the value of fighting for your friends."

Before he could respond, she turned to fling another energy force at Bucky. He had Natasha down on the table, hands around her throat. Aspen readied herself, but then someone blocked her shot, kicking Bucky and distracting him from Natasha.

Aspen didn't recognize him, but he seemed to know what Bucky was capable of as he fought back. There was something familiar about his fighting skills, and Aspen remembered the man dressed like a black cat who had been in custody with the others. Perhaps this was him without the mask.

"Are you okay?" she asked Natasha as her friend gasped for air.

"Never better. Where's Steve?" Natasha asked, letting Aspen help her up.

"I don't know. I've been sitting here for the last twenty minutes having no idea what's going on. Instead of breaking in and searching the whole building, I respectfully waited for someone to come and tell me what was happening," Aspen said irritably. "What happened? Why is Bucky back in Winter Soldier mode?"

"I don't know."

"Bang up job the government is doing. Do you have a pen? Maybe I'll sign those Accords now that I've seen how great of a job they're doing." She knew she shouldn't take out her anger on Natasha, but whoever had triggered the Winter Soldier programming had successfully ruined Bucky's chances of redemption in public's eyes. It had happened here right in front of everyone's noses. As usual, the government was corrupt or had let someone corrupt through the cracks. "You know what? Never mind. I'm going after him."

That proved difficult, however, though it had only been half a minute since he'd been fighting the other man. Bucky had disappeared, and Aspen had no idea where to look. People were streaming out of the building. Perhaps he'd blended in and gotten out that way. She sped forward out the doors, but there was no familiar metal arm. She scanned the area, flitting though minds to catch any glimpse of Bucky, but it didn't seem that he'd come out this way.

"Aspen." She looked up to find Sam. There was a bruise forming on his face, and he looked as if he'd been through the wringer.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It was the psychologist," Sam told her. "The one brought in to evaluate Bucky. He did something to trigger the Winter Soldier programming. I tried to follow, but he disappeared." He held up a jacket he'd found on the ground. "I doubt he was who he said he was, and I have no idea what his intentions were. He didn't take Bucky with him."

"I feel like we're missing something big. Where's Steve?"

"I don't know. I got knocked unconscious and then went after the doctor when I came to. He's probably going after Bucky."

"But where did Bucky go?" Aspen scanned the area. "He didn't escape on foot, so how else…" Her eyes drifted upwards. "By air? Let's get to the quinjet. We can search for him from the air. Maybe there's some plane he's planning on escaping in or maybe he's long gone. Either way, we'll get a better view from up high."

"If I had my wings this would be easier…" Sam muttered, tossing the jacket and following after Aspen.

…

He'd been right to go to the roof. Bucky was already in a helicopter, maneuvering for take off. Steve sprinted across the roof and leapt up, grabbing one of the landing skids and clinging on. The helicopter tipped, lowering with his added weight, but Bucky turned it toward the open air, and Steve's shoes skidded across the landing pad, unable to find any traction. He slid to the edge, grabbing onto a railing before Bucky could pull him over the edge of the roof. He clung on, one hand wrapped around the landing skid, the other bracing himself to the building. He grimaced as his shoulders ached from the strain, half expecting the helicopter to rip out of his grasp. He pulled, and it moved a bit closer to him. If he could just bring it down… A second later he had to leap out of the way, releasing both the helicopter and the railing as Bucky sent the copter straight at him. It crashed into the pad, the blades of the propeller slicing dangerously close to Steve. The tail end swung straight at him, and he threw himself down before the sharp metal could hit him. He lay there for a moment on the broken concrete, breathing hard. He didn't realize he was within Bucky's grasp until a metal arm came breaking through the window of the copter, gripping Steve's neck in a strangle hold. He grabbed Bucky's wrist, trying in vain to pull him off, but it wasn't his friend who looked back at him. The helicopter started to slide, and Steve had to release Bucky's wrist to brace himself against the copter. Bucky's grip didn't loosen as the helicopter began to fall taking Steve with it as it hit the water down below. Bucky's head slammed into the glass, and his grip finally loosened around Steve's throat. Steve hit the water, sinking down below as the helicopter hit the bottom of the river. He swam over and ripped the door off, grabbing Bucky and pulling him from the ruined helicopter.

As he broke the surface of the water, he felt a rush of familiarity, remembering when Bucky had pulled him out of the Potomac and saved him from drowning. He'd been unconscious, but when he'd finally come to on the side of the river, he knew only Bucky could have saved him. Now he dragged Bucky through the water and onto the bank, taking a long moment to catch his breath. Something moved overhead, and the quinjet landed a few yards away, coming out of stealth mode. Aspen was out in an instant, running over and throwing her arms around him. He put an arm around her, pulling her close. He was soaking wet, and he knew he must be getting her wet too, but she clung onto him anyway.

"I saw the helicopter fall from above," she said, her voice muffled as she spoke into his shirt. "I didn't know if either of you had made it." She pulled away and looked down at the unconscious Bucky. "Is he okay?"

"He should be," Steve told her, looking down at his friend. "He put up a fight, but we've got him now." It was surreal finally reclaiming his friend. He just hoped the knock he'd received to the head would be enough to shake the Winter Soldier programming. "Come on. We need to get somewhere safe." He pulled Bucky up, putting his metal arm around his shoulder and half dragging him to the quinjet. Aspen put the jet into stealth mode at once, lifting off from the ground.

"Where to?" she asked.

"Let's find somewhere abandoned," he said. "I need to know if he's shaken off the Winter Soldier."

"Okay." She located an abandoned garage in a rundown neighborhood that didn't look like it saw much traffic, landing the jet in the back and keeping it cloaked. "What if he hasn't shaken off the Winter Soldier?" Aspen asked as Steve pulled Bucky into the building.

He looked around, his eyes settling on a vice in the corner of one of the rooms. "There," he said. He pulled up a rickety chair and set Bucky in it, extending his metal arm and trapping it under the vice. "When he wakes up, we'll see which Bucky he is."

Aspen rubbed her hand over his shoulder, and he gave her a strained smile. "I'm glad you're safe," he told her.

"I've been missing out on all the action today," she told him. "I'm glad you two are safe. Sam told me he thought it was the psychologist who did this to Bucky?"

"Yeah, there was something off about him. When I tried to question him, he said that he wanted to 'see an empire fall' whatever that means." Steve furrowed his brow.

"That makes no sense. Maybe when Bucky wakes up, he'll be able to tell us what the psychologist wanted."

"Yeah. I hope so." He glanced over at his friend who was still out cold. They explored the garage a little, peering through one of the broken windows to see a helicopter fly overhead. They were looking for them. He wondered where Tony and Natasha were now and if they were suffering for what had happened. He felt a stab of anger toward Tony and the Accords. This whole thing was a mess, and yet Tony still thought he was doing the right thing. "Did you call Clint?" he asked Aspen. "Tony said Wanda was being 'confined' to the compound."

"Yeah, Clint was going to get her. Sounded like he staged a distraction to get Vision out of the way. Has it really come to this? Teammate against teammate?"

"Seems like it." He sighed, thinking back to his argument with Tony. "I almost signed," he said quietly. It felt like a confession, and he half expected Aspen to react in shock. Instead she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms looking tired rather than angry.

"Did he try to use Bucky as leverage?" she asked flatly.

"No, nothing like that," he said, shaking his head before pausing. "Well, maybe. He said if I signed then we could make the last 24 hours legit, and Bucky could be transferred to an American psych center instead of a Wakandan prison. I thought if some of the Accords could be amended, turned a little more in our favor…but then he told me Wanda was confined to the Avengers compound. Confined like she's some sort of criminal. She's just a kid, and the team is all she has in this world."

"He's so desperate to be right on this that he doesn't seem to know where the line is or when he's crossed it. What else did he say?" Aspen asked.

Steve related the conversation, adding in the chase in Bucharest. He felt suddenly exhausted, and it was hard to believe that he'd found Bucky only this morning.

"Now what?"

"We see if Bucky can tell us anything when he wakes up. We hope Clint and Wanda can get here for backup." He wished he had a plan, but he didn't. He didn't know enough, didn't have all the pieces that needed to be put together.

"Hey, Cap," Sam called. He nodded toward the room where Bucky was. "He's awake."


	58. Mission Report

**Author's Note:** So I totally kind of wrote a bit of the plot to Civil War before the movie came out in A Game of Winter when Aspen, Steve, and Sam go to Moscow where Bucky was first turned into the Winter Soldier. They're searching for him after DC, and the clues lead them there. I mentioned Zephyr Codes which were the words that triggered sleeper spies. I also mentioned Super Soldiers that Hydra created. But of course in the Civil War movie, this is the first Steve and Sam have heard of other Winter Soldiers being created and Bucky was kept in Siberia. I was basing what I wrote in A Game of Winter off of comic book plots. Anyway, I've tried to reexamine a little of what happened back in my pervious story so it makes more sense, and I've tweaked a few things so it makes sense with what my version of the characters have already discovered in previous stories.

* * *

 **54 – Mission Report – June 23, 2016**

Bucky's eyes glanced over Aspen as she, Steve, and Sam entered the room. She wondered if he recognized her, if he remembered his time as the Winter Solider or the times he'd nearly gotten himself back. His eyes set on Steve though, and she could nearly hear the hope vibrating off of the super soldier.

"Steve." Bucky spoke Steve's name, and Aspen dared to hope that maybe he was Bucky again.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve asked, his voice cautious. He was trying so hard not to get his hopes up. Aspen knew he'd been waiting for this moment for so long, but seeing the Winter Soldier again had been jarring.

"Your mom's name was Sarah." Bucky's voice was soft as he spoke, his eyes far away as if remembering something he hadn't thought of in a long time. "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." He laughed softly smiling for the first time that Aspen had ever seen. She wanted to laugh in relief, but she stayed quiet, waiting for Steve to react.

"Can't read that in a museum," he said.

"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked, glancing at Steve. Aspen didn't blame him. He'd done a lot to help Steve find Bucky, but he'd also fought the Winter Soldier multiple times. Aspen knew Steve just wanted his old friend back, but would Bucky ever be able to go back to the person he'd been before Hydra had turned him into their weapon?

"What did I do?" Bucky asked with a resigned sigh.

"Enough." Steve didn't elaborate. Though none of them blamed Bucky for what he'd done during the Winter Soldier mindset, his actions hadn't helped him any.

Bucky hung his head, his long hair falling across his face. "Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words." Aspen could hear the frustration in his voice. She felt it too. She knew what it was like to try over and over to escape something only to have it catch up to you at the most inopportune times. Bucky must have been referring to the words that triggered his Winter Soldier programming. How had the fake doctor known them? Aspen thought back to when she, Steve, and Sam had gone to Moscow in search of Bucky's Winter Soldier origins. They'd found a reference to what was called a Zephyr Code or a series of words that triggered a sleeper spy mode. They'd tried to hunt down the codes but hadn't been able to get their hands on them. As far as they knew, they had passed through many hands throughout the years. Perhaps more than one copy existed. That was a frightening thought.

"Who was he?" Steve asked.

"I don't know." It was odd that the man would so specifically want to speak to Bucky. The lengths he'd gone to to do so… And yet they didn't know who he was or what he wanted.

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup," Steve told Bucky. "The doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than 'I don't know.'"

Bucky looked up at Steve, his eyes thoughtful. "He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."

"Why would he need to know that?" Steve asked with a frown.

Bucky's expression was dark as he spoke. "Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

Aspen was taken back to Moscow when he spoke, back to the lab where he'd first been turned into the Winter Soldier, given his metal arm. It made sense that there was more than one facility that he'd been kept in. The one in Moscow had shut down in the 70s but Bucky had been in Hydra's grasp until very recently. There had been a Super Soldier there in Moscow. He'd attacked Aspen before Steve had saved her. There had been stasis pods too where others had escaped.

"There are more?" she asked, and Bucky turned his eyes to her. She couldn't tell if he remembered her or not, but he nodded. Steve took a step forward and loosened the vice so that Bucky could pull his arm out.

"Thanks." Bucky rested both arms on his knees, leaning forward. He looked haggard as if he hadn't stopped running since DC. Aspen supposed he hadn't.

"What more can you tell us about Siberia? About the other Winter Soldiers?" Steve asked, stepping back and leaning against the wall. Aspen could see the tense set of his shoulders. She could tell how much he wanted to catch up with his best friend, forget serums and soldiers and Hydra. This was Bucky. He finally had him back, but there were more pressing matters at hand. As usual, Steve put himself last.

"There were five others. They took the serum willingly despite the pain of the transformation." He glanced at Steve. They both knew what that pain felt like even if it had been a different serum. "They were violent, unmanageable sometimes. I was the first but compared to them, I wasn't the strongest. They were ruthless, but I hadn't started out like them... We were kept in Siberia. This was the early 90s. I'd been moved around before that. There'd been other attempts on soldiers. These ones had less side effects than the others, but they got out of hand and had to be put back into cryofreeze."

"Who were they?" Steve asked.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in Hydra history. And that was before the serum."

"They all turn out like you?" Sam asked.

"Worse."

"The doctor, could he control them?" Steve asked, referring to the fake doctor who'd triggered Bucky's Winter Soldier programming.

"Enough."

"He said he wanted to see an empire fall."

"With these guys he could do it. They speak thirty languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming." That was a frightening thought, but nothing Hydra did surprised Aspen anymore. Even if they organization was gone, their dark legacy still lived on with what they'd done in the past.

Sam walked over to Steve, speaking in a low tone. "This would have been a lot easier a week ago," he said.

"If we call Tony..." Steve started to suggest, but Sam shook his head.

"No, he won't believe us." Aspen had to agree with Sam. Tony's head was too full of the Accords, and she was sure General Ross was breathing down his neck about Steve, Sam, and Bucky's escape.

"Even if he did..."

"Who knows if the Accords would let him help," Sam finished Steve's thought.

"This is exactly why we didn't sign," Aspen spoke up. "This is something we need to address, something we are best suited to handle, but now we're acting completely outside the law to do so."

"We're on our own," Steve said.

"Clint and Wanda will come," Aspen told him. "We're not completely alone."

"I might have someone else who's willing to help," Sam told them. "I know a guy."

"It feels like we're forming another team," Aspen said. She felt an ache for the old team, but nothing was ever going to be the same again. She wasn't sure what had been broken could be fixed.

"If it's what it takes," Steve said.

While Sam and Steve began to talk about a plan, Aspen walked over to where Bucky was sitting dejectedly. "Do you remember me?" she asked softly. Bucky looked up at her. The skin around his dark blue eyes looked bruised, and she wondered when the last time was that he'd gotten a decent night's sleep. The left side of his head was caked with blood, but the wounds were already healing. She saw a deep sorrow in his eyes and knew he was remembering when they'd last met when he'd still been the Winter Soldier.

"I tried to kill you…"

" _You_ didn't," she insisted. "Do you remember another time? In Canada? You saved my life."

"I have trouble remembering the times I shook the Winter Soldier off, but I'm glad I did something right." She noticed his eyes going to her left hand, to the ring there.

She cleared her throat feeling suddenly self-conscious. "I want to introduce myself properly. I'm Aspen. Steve has always talked about you since I first met him. I always wished I could have met you."

He managed a smile, and it warmed Aspen's heart to see it. "It's nice to meet you," he told her. "I can see a lot's changed."

"It has," she said. How strange it must be to find out his friend was married. Steve had moved on with his life while Bucky had been constantly stuck in stasis only living out whatever moments Hydra chose for him. "We got married last July. We met right after he woke up in 2012. I worked for SHIELD at the time and was assigned to help him adapt to the twenty first century."

"That's great." His tone was a bit flat, but she could tell from his eyes that he meant it. It was just a lot to take in. "I can tell you make him happy, and he's the best guy I know."

Aspen smiled. "This is surreal," she said. "I've wished for a long time that I could have your approval. Even before we knew you were still alive."

"You don't need it, but you have it," he told her.

On impulse, Aspen closed the distance between them, leaning down to wrap her arms around him. Bucky seemed startled, but after a hesitation, he put his non-metal arm around her back. "I'm really glad you're here," she said.

When she pulled away, she saw that he was smiling. "Thanks," he told her. "After all I've done, it's nice to hear that."

"Everyone here wants you here," she said. "Even Sam," she added with a smirk.

Bucky stood, keeping his distance but watching Steve and Sam as if waiting for acceptance. Steve walked toward him before pulling him into a tight embrace. Bucky gripped him tightly back. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Bucky replied. "I'm sorry for what happened in DC."

"You saved my life." Steve pulled back, keeping a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"You reminded me of who I was."

"I hate to interrupt this reunion, but we need to come up with a plan of action," Sam said.

"He's right," Bucky agreed, turning to Sam. Aspen wished they could sit and catch up on everything. There was so much she wanted to know about Bucky, so many questions she wanted to ask him. She could tell Steve was aching for the chance too, but right now there was too much at stake. They'd just gotten him back but it felt like they were close to losing him again too.

"If the fake doctor is going to Siberia to unleash the other Winter Soldiers on the world then we need to be there to stop him," Aspen said. "He's probably already on his way."

"We're going to need all the help we can get," Steve said. "Can you call your contact, Sam?"

"Sure thing. Think Barton can pick him up?" Sam asked, pulling out his phone.

"I'll text him," Aspen said. "Where is this person and who is this person?"

"Let's just say we crossed paths once. Not quite Avengers caliber yet, but he's got skills," Sam said vaguely.

"Glowing recommendation. When can he start?" She turned back to Bucky and Steve as Sam made his call. "We wait for Clint and Wanda and Sam's contact to arrive then take the jet to Siberia. But what if the fake doctor is already there? Should we leave now and have Clint meet us in Siberia?"

"I don't _think_ he's got a quinjet, so he'll be slowed down by regular planes and layovers. Besides, before we go to Siberia, Sam and I need our gear back," Steve said with a sigh.

"Of course. And your gear is back in the place you just escaped from," Aspen said mimicking his sigh. Nothing was ever easy in this life.

"Exactly."

"Do you have a contact inside? Anyone who might help us if they knew the truth?" she asked him. It was so frustrating knowing that a threat existed out there and that there was no one they could turn to outside of the shambles of their team. Clint was supposed to be retired, and Wanda didn't need to be involved with this.

"Sharon might help us," Steve told her. "She didn't seem too thrilled with the way things were being run. She let us listen in on Bucky's interrogation."

"Good. Contact her and see if you can get your gear," Aspen suggested to Steve.

"Okay, thanks a lot, Tic Tac." Sam hung up the phone, ignoring the look Aspen gave him. "Can Barton get to San Francisco?"

"We're on a bit of a time crunch, but he can steal a quinjet from the Avengers facility," Aspen said. "I'll text him. Do you have an address? A name?"

"The name's Scott Lang, and he'll meet Barton in Golden Gate Park near the golf course."

"Okay." Aspen sent off a quick text to Clint, hoping he'd gotten Wanda out of the Avengers compound. She was pleased to get a text back a moment later. "He's got Wanda. And a jet. He said he'll head to San Francisco and meet us here early tomorrow."

"We shouldn't stay in Berlin," Steve said. "We need a less conspicuous place to keep the quinjet until we're ready to head to Siberia."

Aspen pulled up a map of Germany on her phone. "Leipzig isn't too far from here, and there's an airport we could park the jet at."

"Good, tell Clint to meet us there. I'll get in touch with Sharon and see if she can find a way to get us our gear," Steve told them, pulling out his phone.

"Can we trust this Scott person?" Aspen asked Sam.

"Yeah, he's cool," Sam said. "Has big potential in a small way."

"Okaay. Well, we need all the help we can get." Aspen took a deep breath feeling suddenly exhausted. Her stomach was unsettled, and she unconsciously put a hand to it.

"We should probably all try to get some rest when we get to Leipzig," Sam suggested, noting her exhaustion.

Aspen hurriedly took her hand away from her stomach. "Yeah. And get something to eat. I'm starving." In truth she wished they could fly to Siberia that second. She had this gnawing feeling that they were going to be too late, that the Winter Soldiers would be unleashed on the world and already causing destruction before they got in the air again. But there was something else niggling at the back of her mind. The fake psychologist had gone to an extraordinary effort to get a chance to speak to Bucky. Was it just to awaken the Winter Soldiers or was there something more to it? Something more personal? What empire did he want to see fall and who was he? Her instinct told her there was something much more personal about this. Anyone could go to Siberia in the effort to continue Hydra's work, but he had sought out Bucky, known who he was and where he was. Had he staged Bucky's presence in Vienna too? Caused the bombing that had taken lives? He was a complete mystery, and it was unsettling to be so many steps behind him.

"Sharon said she can meet us in Leipzig tomorrow morning with our gear," Steve said. "She also said that General Ross gave Tony thirty-six hours to arrest us."

"Seriously?" Aspen wanted to scream in frustration. "He's going to arrest us?"

"I don't think Ross gave him much of a choice. Sharon made it sound like Ross's solution was much less pleasant."

"So we're fugitives from the law now." It shouldn't have felt so jarring. Aspen had known it was coming the moment they'd refused to sign the Accords.

"Sam, Bucky, and I are. As of yet, Ross isn't aware of your involvement. I want to keep it that way," Steve told her.

"Well I am involved. I don't care if that makes me a fugitive too. I'm not signing those Accords, and I'm certainly not turning you over to Tony Stark and his new best friend."

Steve sighed, and she could see how weary he was. He'd been through a lot today as well as Sam and Bucky. She really didn't have anything to complain about in comparison. Just a life changing revelation in the dingy bathroom of a Romanian drug store, but no one had shot at her or chased her or tried to arrest her as of yet. "Let's get going. The sooner we get to Leipzig, the better. We can rest and get something to eat."

…

It was surreal having Bucky back. Bucky and not the Winter Soldier. Steve wanted to share everything that had happened to him since he'd last seen Bucky, but there wasn't time and that wasn't a priority right now. Bucky was quiet, sitting in the back of the quinjet across from Aspen. Steve had volunteered to fly, and Aspen had readily agreed, looking pale. There was something off about her that he couldn't quite figure out. She looked ill, but she'd insisted she was fine. She kept glancing at him like she had a secret, but now wasn't the time to ask. He hated that he'd put her in this situation. On the run from the law, shunned from their former team. He knew she didn't care, that she'd follow him no matter what, but it didn't make him feel any less guilty. He loved that she would follow him anywhere, but he also wished she could stay out of this, stay safe. Maybe if they cleared all this up, proved that Bucky hadn't bombed Vienna, then they could go back to the way things were.

He also knew that no matter how much he deluded himself into thinking so, that wasn't going to happen. Bucky was still wanted for crimes he had committed even if it hadn't really been him. Steve and Sam had acted outside of the Accords, and their chase in Bucharest had caused some damage and injuries. He wasn't proud of that, but Bucky was alive because of it, so he didn't regret it.

He felt better knowing more of his team was on their way. But it also meant he was asking them to act illegally outside the Accords. He knew they would without a moment's hesitation because it was the right thing to do. The right thing to do wasn't always the same as following the law. That was what Tony didn't understand, what he refused to see. It wasn't their freedom they were giving up; it was the right to choose to do the right thing rather than the lawful thing. It wasn't always black and white, and he knew those shades of grey complicated everything. But they couldn't be ignored. That was how Hydra had slipped through the cracks at SHIELD and why Inhumans were still fighting for their rights. Some people only saw in black and white, and that made them blind.

He landed the quijet at the Leipzig airport as Aspen had suggested, keeping it in stealth mode. It was nearing nightfall, and he'd had the longest day he could remember ever having, but it didn't seem wise to show their faces anywhere. Aspen offered to get food, but Steve didn't like the idea of her going out alone.

"I could use some fresh air. Trust me, I can take care of myself," she said, brushing off his concern.

"I know you can," he said, following her down the ramp of the quinjet. He sensed something was on her mind but with everything they'd been through in the last few days, he wasn't sure if it was something more or just anxiety over the fact that they were now fugitives from the law. Aspen paused at the bottom of the ramp, and he hesitated, unsure of whether or not she wanted to talk.

"Everything used to be so much simpler," she said, looking up at the sky. "It was always about fighting the bad guys and doing the right thing. It still is only now people are trying to stop us. Not just Ross but Tony and Natasha. They're supposed to be our friends so why are they doing this? I know they think it's for the greater good – that it's the only way to remain a team – but after everything we've been through, I just thought they might fight a little harder for us."

Steve closed the distance between them, taking Aspen's hand in his own. They were trembling, and he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. She nestled into his chest, hands fisted between them as if she were ready to fight right then and there. "What's going to happen to us?" she asked softly, and he wondered for a moment if she was having second thoughts about going against the law.

"We're going to keep fighting for what we believe in to save the world from a threat only we can handle. After that…" He honestly hadn't thought that far ahead, but that was what Aspen was really asking. Their home had been with the Avengers, but they would no longer be welcome there. Their lives had always changed constantly, but he knew a part of Aspen had always longed to finally find some form of normalcy. "We'll figure out something. We always do."

She pulled away, wrapping her arms around herself. "What if our lives were about to change even more?" she asked, not meeting his eyes.

"What do you mean?" he asked, wishing she'd look at him. She was holding something back; he just wished he knew what.

"It doesn't matter. Not right now. Right now we have to be the heroes, right?" She looked up at him, giving him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "And heroes put themselves last."

"Aspen, if there's something you need to talk about-"

"I'm going to go get us something to eat," she said, backing away. "I'll be back in a little bit."

Steve watched her go, wondering what she was keeping from him. He knew he was forever keeping his own feelings tucked away when there was something more at stake, but Aspen had always been more forthcoming, unafraid to express just exactly how she was feeling.

"You okay?" Sam asked when Steve climbed back up the ramp.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Steve said, offering a smile. Tomorrow they would head to Siberia and hopefully stop the doctor from waking the other Winter Soldiers or at least stop them from leaving the facility. After that…he didn't know. He wasn't going to pretend like this was going to be easy. It wouldn't be. He just wondered how many more lines they would have to cross before it was over and what more they would have to give up.


	59. Two Hearts

**Author's Note:** We're getting close to the end - finally. And here I was worried about getting to the Civil War part of my story before the movie came out... I went to see Thor: Ragnarok. It was the most wonderful thing I have experienced since The Winter Solider. It was hilarious. I swear they just took the gag reel and turned it into a coherent story. And the Loki...oh the Loki. I've still got that soft spot for him. Anyway, thank you for reading!

* * *

 **55 – Two Hearts – June 23, 2016**

The night air was cool, and it helped to clear Aspen's head. Her mind was blissfully silent as she tuned her abilities down until she felt normal, human. She was wandering aimlessly, letting the city unfold around her, the night lights dazzling her eyes. Time seemed to slow and, for a moment, she almost believed she could put everything on pause. She hovered somewhere between peace and war, and she wished she never had to break the spell.

"You shouldn't be wandering the city alone."

She wasn't entirely surprised when Natasha fell into step with her. Her green eyes were unsure, and Aspen wasn't used to that expression on the Black Widow's face. Natasha never hesitated. She was always so sure of herself, and Aspen had always admired that about her. Now she was torn between her friends and teammates, doing what was right and what was lawful. This wasn't the Natasha Aspen knew and yet she was so familiar that Aspen could almost pretend this was just another mission.

"It's a nice night," Aspen told her, tucking her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "Did Tony send you?"

"I came alone." That didn't answer Aspen's question, but she decided to let Natasha continue. She kept walking in silence. "This isn't how I imagined this going, you know." Natasha's words were almost apologetic.

"What, you thought we'd all agree and fall in line?" When had they ever all agreed on something? She could count the number of times Tony and Steve had agreed on one hand.

"No. Just…I never imagined hunting down my friends."

Aspen tensed, letting her abilities rush over her, scanning Natasha for weapons or tracking devices – any sign that she was going to try to take Aspen in. There was nothing though, and Aspen let herself relax a little. "Then don't."

"It's not that simple, and you know it." Natasha stopped, and Aspen turned to face her.

"It's not simple. But you're missing the bigger picture. There's more here at stake than Ross and the warrants hanging over our heads. Is anyone trying to find the psychologist? Is anyone questioning why he went to all that effort just to speak to Bucky?" When Natahsa didn't answer, she said, "I didn't think so." She started walking again.

"We can help. But not if you don't give a little," Natasha told her, catching up.

"I'm not signing a piece of paper and letting someone else figure out whether or not I can pursue an active threat," Aspen told her. "Forget it."

"I know this isn't how you wanted it to go but Aspen, you can't go back from this. Is this the life you want?"

Aspen paused, a hand going unconsciously to her stomach. No, it wasn't how she imagined her life going, wasn't what she wanted. But she had accepted a long time ago that she wasn't meant for a normal life. She'd never live in a nice house with a white picket fence. She'd never have photo albums filled with memories, never take vacations, never be able to give her child a normal life. The reality of this struck her then. She hadn't yet allowed herself to process the fact that it wasn't just her anymore. There were two hearts living within her, and she had a duty to protect the small one growing inside of her.

Her lungs felt too tight, and panic constricted her throat. She was vaguely aware of Natasha asking if she was okay. She leaned against the side of a building, vision bluring for a moment.

"I'm fine," she forced out.

"Something's going on with you," Natasha said, seeing right through Aspen.

"It's nothing." Aspen forced herself away from the wall, shoving her hands in her pockets again. Natasha had missed nothing, however, and her eyes flitted to Aspen's stomach before returning to her face.

"How far along are you?" she asked. She didn't sound surprised, and Aspen wondered if she had already somehow guessed it.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can't be a part of this, Aspen," Natasha said, taking her arm before Aspen could turn away. "You'll get hurt. Does Steve even know yet?"

"Does he know? Do you know how _I_ know?" She whirled on Natasha, eyes burning with resentment – not toward Natasha but toward what was happening to all of them. "It was in the disgusting bathroom in a convenience store in Romania. I needed to know just what I was getting myself into and if it was even just me anymore. I haven't had _time_ to tell him. I've hardly had time to process it myself. My life is in complete chaos right now, and I am my lowest priority."

"If you tell Tony, he'll make sure you're safe. He'll-"

"I want _nothing_ from Tony, and don't you _dare_ tell him," Aspen said, ripping her arm from Natasha's grasp. She saw hurt flit across the Avenger's face. "I'm on Steve's side and not just because he's my husband. I don't believe in the Accords. I'm going to fight, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Not unless you want to arrest me here and now."

"You'd risk the life of your child-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Aspen said, taking a step away from Natasha. "I'm fighting for what I believe in. I'm fighting for what I believe is right. I'm fighting to protect the world so that this child stands a chance." She put a hand protectively over her stomach. "That involves fighting off a threat that you and your _team_ are too tied up in government tape to fight." She turned back the way she'd come. "Don't follow me."

Natasha didn't. Aspen picked up take out food from a fast food restaurant and headed back to the quinjet her mood fouler than it had been before. Was she being reckless? If she fought, there was a chance she would get hurt. What was the use of the Superhero Serum if she couldn't even protect her own unborn child? She had to believe it would give her the strength she needed to fight and protect. She'd have a team backing her and with any luck, they'd be able to take down the Winter Soldiers and the fake psychologist before any empires fell.

 _You need to tell him_.

If she did, he'd never let her fight. He'd send her off to the farthest reaches of the world; wherever could keep her safe. She wanted to scream. Why did the universe have to pick now to throw the biggest wrench in her life?

The whole way back to the airport she practiced what she might say, how she might tell Steve. He deserved to know. Keeping this from him was a betrayal but the part of her that was angry it was even happening made her want to keep it a secret until she no longer could. She hadn't even come close to figuring out what to do when she reached the quinjet. She stilled her quaking hands, forcing herself to stay calm. She stood outside the jet for several minutes before finally entering, forcing herself to act natural.

"Everything all right?" Steve asked her, and the concern in his eyes nearly broke her down.

She nodded. "It's just been a really long day," she said. She wanted to tell him about Natasha, but her conversation hadn't really changed anything. She knew Natasha wasn't going to tell Tony about their meeting. She couldn't really say why she knew that, but she also knew that if Natasha could find her, then so could Tony. She'd just have to hope they could get in the air and on their way to Siberia long before that.

…

Sharon was meeting them half an hour away from the airport, and they decided it was best to drive. It was lower profile than the quinjet, and they had a little time before Clint was due to arrive.

"You have an entire airport parking lot full of cars to choose from, and _that's_ the one you steal?" Aspen asked, cocking an eyebrow at the car Steve pulled up in. It was a bottle blue volkswagon bug that looked like it was straight from the 1960s.

"It's low profile," Steve defended.

"Sure it is. Nothing obvious about shoving three muscular men into a car half their size," she said, getting into the back with Bucky. Sam got into the passenger seat, and Steve pulled out of the airport parking lot.

Aspen hadn't slept much the night before, her mind filled with worry over what they were about to face and about what she would have to face sooner or later. None of them were very chatty on the drive to meet Sharon, and Aspen knew they were all wondering just what they would be facing in Siberia. Not for the first time, she wished everything could go back to the way it was. As a team, they could face these Winter Soldiers with ease. Not that she didn't believe in the team they were putting together, but she couldn't deny that having Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk on their side would be helpful. Of course Thor was off world and Bruce had been missing since Sokovia. Maybe the team had been lost a long time ago but she'd been too busy clinging to the remanents to notice.

Sharon had brought Steve's shield and uniform along with Sam's falcon wings. Aspen watched the exchange, realizing that now Sharon would be on the run to. No one ever said doing the right thing was easy. She thought of Sharon's words at Peggy's funeral, a quote from the legendary woman herself. _Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, 'No, you move.'_

It was fitting that Sharon had picked those words to quote because they rang true now more than ever. As she drove off, Aspen sent a silent wish that she'd be okay. Anyone related to Peggy would be, she knew. She smiled at the thought of Peggy standing up to Ross and setting him straight. She would have put a stop to that nonsense before it even began.

They headed back to the airport to meet Clint and the others, and Aspen could hardly wait to see the former Avenger. Clint was safe, and she'd missed his words of wisdom. It was surreal having Bucky with them. Worlds were colliding, and she knew Steve must feel the same. She felt a swell of affection for the people who were standing up for what was right. This was her family and even if it had been split in two, she was still surrounded by people she loved and trusted.

Clint was waiting by a van when they pulled into the parking lot, and Aspen was out of the car and in his arms before the car had pulled to a complete stop.

"Missed you too, Pen," Clint said with a chuckle, giving her a squeeze. Wanda got out of the passenger seat, and Aspen hugged her too, wrapping her arms protectively around her.

"I'm so glad you're here," she said, and Wanda smiled at her. She looked tired and just as worried as Aspen felt, but she was here to fight.

"Cap," Clint greeted, coming forward to shake Steve's hand.

"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice," Steve said almost apologetically.

"Hey, man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt." Clint turned to look at Wanda.

"Thanks for having my back." Steve turned to Wanda. He'd told Aspen what Tony had said about Wanda, how he'd been close to signing until Tony had told him Wanda was confined to the compound. She knew he was protective of her; they all were. They were her family.

"How about our other recruit?" Steve asked, and Aspen turned to Clint, eager to see who the mysterious new recruit was.

Clint turned to open the side door of the van. "He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him, but he should be good."

Sam joined Steve, shrugging at his friend's questioning look.

"What time zone is this?" their new recruit asked, climbing out of the van. He didn't look like much, but Aspen knew better than to underestimate anyone.

"Come on. Come on," Clint said, giving the man a little shove. His eyes went straight to Steve, widening at once. He reached out to shake Steve's hand.

"Captain America!" The excitement in his voice was clear, and Aspen hid a smile, watching Steve's reaction.

"Mr. Lang," he returned politely. Aspen remembered that Sam had said his first name was Scott. The name rang a bell, but she couldn't place it.

"It's an honor," the man said, continuing to shake Steve's had much longer than polite protocol required. Aspen was laughing silently now, her worries momentarily distracted by Steve's veiled discomfort. "I'm shaking your hand too long," Scott pointed out, grinning unashamedly. He let go of Steve's hand. "Wow! This is awesome!" He turned to look at Wanda and Aspen. "Captain America," he said as if they didn't know who he was. "I know you, too. You're great!" he said to Wanda. Aspen decided she liked this guy. "And you, too," he added to Aspen. "Wow."

He turned back to Steve, grabbing his shoulders with a look of astonishment. Steve gave Sam a look, but Aspen could tell he was amused. "Geez. Ah, look, I just wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so thinks for thanking of me." Steve gave him a nod, his smile warm.

"Hey, man!" Scott greeted Sam.

"What's up, Tic Tac?" His arms were crossed, and Aspen's curiosity piqued about his meeting with Scott.

"Uh, good to see you." Scott seemed a little hesitant as if he didn't know how Sam was going to react to him. "Look, what happened last time when I…"

"It was a great audition, but it'll never happen again," Sam interupted him, shaking his head. Scott looked vaguely disappointed.

"They tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked him.

Scott turned his attention back to Steve. "Something about some psycho-assassins?"

"We're outside the law on this one," Steve warned him. "So if you come with us, you're a wanted man."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Scott said with a shrug, and Aspen remembered where she knew his name from. He'd been in jail not too long ago. Something to do with ripping off a company. She remembered how it had been controversial because it'd been a sort of Robin Hood gesture rather than something driven by greed. The company had been stealing from its customers, and he'd given that money back. He seemed like a nice guy, and Aspen was more than happy to have him on their team.

"We should get moving," Bucky said. He hadn't moved from the other side of the car, separate from the rest of them. Aspen wanted to pull him over, but she respected the distance he kept. All these people were Steve's friends and teammates, but Bucky had never met any of them in person save Sam and Aspen.

"Quinjet's parked in a hangar down there," Aspen said. The PA system in the parking garage interrupted her.

"They're evacuating the airport," Bucky said, translating the German.

"Stark?" Sam guessed.

Who else would it be? Of course he'd found them at the worst possible time. Aspen wondered how he'd tracked them. She thought she'd warded the jet, but he had designed it after all. Perhaps they'd been spotted. Who knew? Aspen realized she'd been naïve to think they would get away without a fight. Ross had given Tony and his team a deadline. He'd do anything to stop them after the debacle at the Terrorist Center.

"Suit up," Steve told them all.

Aspen had heard him say those words before but never before fighting their friends. Despite all their differences, despite everything that Tony had done, Aspen couldn't think of him as her enemy. Would he cross that line though? She knew Steve would try to talk him down first, but she knew how single-minded Tony could be. He wouldn't listen.

She already had her suit on though it felt strange to be wearing something Tony had helped design. It still had the Avengers A on the shoulder. She brushed a finger over it. She was no longer an Avenger, and the thought struck her like lightning. Being an Avenger had been the biggest part of her life and identity since the Battle of New York. It was the first time she'd felt like she was a part of something, like she belonged. She realized now that she didn't need that title to feel like she belonged, to know who she was.

She had to loosen the belt to get it to fit, but otherwise the uniform fit the same. She felt some comfort in the familiarity of it. She didn't need a uniform to define her, but she had earned it, earned her place on the team. Perhaps she'd had that taken away from her, but she still felt like she was earning it. She was doing the right thing despite opposition.

"You all right?" Clint came up to her, dressed in his Hawkeye gear.

Aspen gave him a strained smile. "Are any of us?" she countered.

"Retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be," he confessed. "I was kind of glad to get that call."

"I'm really glad you're here, Clint."

Having him here felt so right after all they'd been through together. He'd been there at the very beginning and, if this was the end, he'd be there for that too. She felt the sudden need to spill everything to him.

"So Stark has Nat. Do we know who else?" Clint asked and the moment passed. Aspen could tell he was hurt that Natasha was on the other side. Aspen respected her decision, but she had to admit that it did hurt.

"I'm not sure. Rhodey, obviously. He's always been Tony's guy." She shrugged. She didn't know what to expect. "How did it come to this?"

Clint shook his head. "Ross is putting a lot of pressure on Tony, but that doesn't mean he had to give in. Vision seems to be on his side. I'm sure he's made it to Germany somehow even without a passport."

"Can we win this?" Aspen asked. She'd never fought _against_ her teammates before. She'd trained with them, fought by their sides, observed their techniques. They knew each other and their strengths and weaknesses more intimately than anyone else.

"Maybe it's not about winning. We just need to get to the quinjet. At least some of us," Clint said.

"All right." Steve was suited up, and they gathered together to hear his plan. Aspen noticed that, though he wore his familiar red, white, and blue suit, he'd ripped the Avengers A off of the sleeve. He was acting as Steve Rogers, not as an Avenger, not as Captain America. "Our goal is to get to the quinjet, but of course Stark isn't going to make it easy. Ross wants Bucky, Sam, and me, and Tony's not going to stop until he has us in custody. I'm going to go out first. I don't know if he's beyond reason, but I have to at least try. He doesn't know about the psychologist or the Winter Soldiers yet. Maybe…maybe I can make him see reason. Maybe not. Be ready for anything. If it comes to a fight, then we fight. We'll split up and make our way to the jet separately. Sam, Bucky, take the terminal. Wanda, Clint, stick to the ground, stay out of sight. Scott–"

"Wait, what exactly can you do?" Aspen interrupted. Scott's suit was red and silver and he had a helmet under his arm that looked a bit like an insect's head.

"I'm Ant-Man," he said enthusiastically. "Yeah, I can shrink myself down to the size of an ant."

Aspen nodded. "I can see how that'd come in handy."

"Scott, stick with me. Start off small," Steve said. "We can take them by surprise."

"What about me?" Aspen asked.

"Can you cloak yourself?" Steve asked. "Get a location on Stark's team and let us know who we're up against."

She nodded. "I can do that."

Steve looked around at each of them. "Then let's go," he said.


	60. Civil War

**Author's Note:** Sorry it took me so long to write this. Writing the battle scene was rather intimidating with so much action and so many characters. I think one more chapter. We'll see how it turns out, but we are coming to a close here! In the break between Civil War and Infinity Wars, I will be posting in my new Loki fan fiction called _A Game of Mischief_. Please check it out if you are interested in reading a Loki/OC fic. It is unrelated to this series. Starts at the very end of Dark World and deals with Loki's time in Asgard disguised as Odin. I still have another Steve/OC fic started that I will probably post some day, but for now I'm going to finish off this series and work on my Loki fic.

Thanks as always for reading!

* * *

 **56 – Civil War – June 24, 2016**

It had been a long time since Aspen had let her powers flood her. It was like listening to a band you hadn't heard in awhile – familiar but she'd forgotten some of the lyrics. She'd never liked how they made her feel less human, and so she'd compromised and only used them when necessary. She'd always been told that she was the only one limiting herself, but she realized after all these years that that limit was what kept her true to herself. Sink in too far, and she didn't know who she was anymore. She'd always liked skimming the surface because it felt safe, like there was no chance of losing herself. She had other skills she could rely on after all, had value above what the serum had made her. Now she used them to bend the light, rendering herself invisible to the naked eye. She could disguise her heat signature too so that Tony's Iron Man suit couldn't pick up on it.

She could also sense where everyone was. She watched from a distance as Steve approached where they'd left the quinjet. No one expected him to reach it without opposition, and a moment later Tony appeared, hovering in the air and effectively blocking Steve's route. Steve came to a stop, shield at his side, stance friendly rather than defensive. Aspen could hear what he was saying through her earpiece, but she needed to find the others on Tony's team so she turned her attention to that. Rhodey flew up a moment later beside Tony, but that hardly surprised Aspen.

"I'm sensing three others," Aspen said into the comms. "Natasha is one of them, the others…" As she spoke, the man dressed in the black cat suit leapt over one of the trucks parked to her left. T'Challa, Steve had told her he was called. He'd also mentioned that he was the king of the African nation of Wakanda since his father had been killed in the Vienna bombing. The young king blamed the Winter Soldier for his father's death. Aspen understood that kind of anger – the need for revenge – but Bucky was innocent. They still weren't sure how, but they knew he'd been framed. Convincing the grief-ridden king of this though…she wasn't sure even Steve could convince him without solid evidence.

Steve had started to explain about the psychologist, but Tony had talked over him, going on to say that Ross was breathing down their necks. They only had twelve hours left to bring Steve, Sam, and Bucky in.

"You're after the wrong guy," Steve told Tony. The light tone he'd used moments before was gone, replaced by steely stubbornness.

"Your judgment is askew," Tony accused. "Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

Aspen sensed movement and saw Natasha moving forward to join the others. She thought the redheaded spy glanced her way for a moment, but that should have been impossible. Still, Natasha knew she was there somewhere. "Steve…" Now it was Natasha's turn to try to convince Steve to come with them. Aspen could hear the regret in her voice though she kept her tone steady. She and Steve had been through a lot together. It pained them both to be on separate sides. "You know what's about to happen," Natasha told him. "Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

Steve didn't answer her, just turned to look at Tony. He already knew his cause was lost – he wouldn't be convincing Tony of anything when Tony had already made up his mind. They were so different and yet so alike in their stubbornness. Aspen had been in the middle of quite a few of their arguments and knew just how impossible it could be to budge either one of them.

She focused on the third heat signature she'd been sensing, skirting her way around the back of the group around the equipment and trucks. She thought she heard an excited voice somewhere as she focused her hearing on the heat signature. "I don't know who the third one is," she said, moving closer.

"All right, I've run out of patience," Tony said before Aspen could reach the excitable voice. "Underoos!"

"What on earth…" Aspen watched as a figure clad in blue and red went flying overhead, shooting something from his fingers. It hit Steve's shield and stuck, pulling it out of his grip. The next second Steve's hands were tied up with the same substance, and the figure landed on a nearby truck, holding the shield. Aspen frowned at the unwelcome surprise. There was a spider emblazoned on the figure's chest, and Aspen remembered seeing a video on YouTube of the spider boy that had saved a few lives in Queens, New York. Spider-Man, they'd been calling him. It seemed to be webbing that now held Steve's hands together.

"You've been busy," Steve told Tony, sounding unconcerned.

"And you've been a complete idiot!" Tony snapped at him. "Dragging in Clint, 'rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep…" His voice rose, but he paused, trying to contain himself. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

Aspen wished she weren't cloaked so she could have shouted at Tony. He was putting the blame on Steve as if Steve had made the decision to tear the team in two.

"You did that when you signed," Steve told Tony. He didn't raise his voice, but Aspen could hear the cold anger behind his tone. He hadn't rejected the Accords to cause a rift in his team. He'd refused to sign because he didn't believe in what they stood for.

"All right. We're done." Aspen had never heard Tony be so dismissive before – not toward his friends. The lack of respect surprised her even after everything he'd done lately. He hadn't let Steve explain anything, hadn't listened to a word he'd said. There was a threat out there, and he wouldn't even acknowledge it.

She had tuned out the rest of Tony's tirade as Steve held his hands up above his head. She heard a sharp twang and one of Clint's arrows cleaved the webbing in half, freeing Steve. Tony turned around to find Clint, his Iron Man helmet shutting with a clang.

"All right, Lang," Steve said. Aspen watched as Scott grew suddenly life-size again, punching Spider-Man and grabbing the shield. He walked back to Steve, handing the shield off.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America," he said proudly.

"Oh, great," Tony said. "All right, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff. I'm gonna grab her." He flew off in pursuit. "Rhodey, you wanna take Cap?"

He said it like it was going to be easy, and Aspen shook her head at his naivety.

"Got two in the terminal. Wilson and Barnes," Rhodey said, lifting off the ground.

"Barnes is mine," T'Challa growled, leaping toward the terminal.

Steve threw his shield up at Rhodey as he flew closer. It clanked as it hit the War Machine suit, bouncing back to Steve. The second he had the shield back in his grip, he was tearing after T'Challa. He threw his shield, knocking into the Black Panther's back. T'Challa stumbled, and Steve caught up to him, gripping him around the neck to slow him down. T'Challa managed to roll out of his grip, landing gracefully like a cat. Scott had moved on to face Natasha though Aspen wasn't too sure about his chances.

Tony was in pursuit of Wanda and Clint as they ran across the tarmac. Aspen was done hiding. She dropped her guise and sent a wave of energy at Tony, letting her rage and frustration empower it. The surge sent Tony careening into the side of a truck, the Iron Man suit denting the side. He turned, recovering quickly. "I figured you'd be here," he said, his voice edged with disappointment.

"Did you really think I'd be anywhere else? You could have just listened, you know, but you chose to alienate your team, discard your friends like we never really mattered." Aspen raised her hands, ready to send another surge of energy at him. She wasn't holding back this time and the familiar feel of being human had nearly faded leaving her something just short of it.

"And you're not at all biased?" Tony's tone was derisive. He'd never spoken that way to her, but he seemed to have finally stopped seeing her as a child. She was on a different side now, and she was in his way. He shot off a warning from one of his repulsor rays and it hit the ground a foot in front of her. She didn't blink. Normally Aspen preferred words to fighting, but right now all she wanted to do was land a punch on that shiny helmet of his. She let go of her pent up energy, and he flew backwards with the force of it. He countered quickly, swooping down and shooting around her, trying to get her to move. She stood still, protecting herself with an energy shield. Her powers were strong, but she felt her limitations sharply. She hadn't used her abilities much lately, preferring the feeling of normalcy over the feeling of power. Her anger fueled her on though, and she fought back, sending a luggage trolley flying at Tony. He narrowly dodged it. Instead of shooting again, Tony plunged forward, flying straight at her and forcing her to finally dodge out of the way. Then he was off after Clint and Wanda who had made it halfway across the tarmac.

Aspen sensed something behind her and sent up a shield just in time to stop webbing from hitting her. The Spider-Man landed gracefully a few feet away. "Whoa, cool!" he said, eyeing the barely visible energy shield. "How do you do that?"

Aspen studied him. He sounded like a teenager, _looked_ like a teenager. Not much taller than her. His astonishment at her abilities made her think he was inexperienced too. From what she knew of him he was a masked vigilante. Something compelled her to answer even though she knew she should be fighting him instead of conversing.

"I was injected with a serum that allows me full use of my brain," she told him. "I can control energy and a lot of other things. Why did Tony bring you here?" Why did he bring a _kid_ into battle?

"He needed my help." He sounded defensive. Aspen had the feeling Tony hadn't told him much.

"Take it from me, kid, you want to watch out for Tony. Lately he's had a tendency of stabbing his friends in the back." She dropped the shield and sent out a gentle wave of energy that he dodged faster than she had accounted for. His webs were half an inch from her face when she threw up another shield. They shot back and forth at each other, each too quick for the other though Aspen had to admit she would never be as agile as he was. How did one catch a spider? Aspen was saved the trouble when a truck came flying out of nowhere, exploding in the middle of the tarmac. She dove out of the way, feeling the heat of it singe her hair.

" _Oh man,_ _I thought it was a water truck_ ," Scott said. " _Uh_ … _sorry_."

The distraction had worked though. Stark's team had scattered, and they were left a clear path to the quinjet. Aspen ran after her teammates and they came together, falling into formation behind Steve. They were going to make it. So far Tony and Rhodey hadn't come flying after them. The delay had already cost them more time than they could afford. Her hopes were cut off as a yellow ray cut the ground in front of them. Vision floated into view, and Aspen cursed herself for not having sensed him. She was out of practice using her abilities. She'd let her own limitations keep her abilities weak.

The ground was left singed before them. "Captain Rogers," Vision spoke, hovering above them. "I know you believe what you're doing is right but for the collective good, you must surrender now." Tony flew over, dropping Natasha gently on the ground. Rhodey swooped by with T'Challa who rolled into a graceful landing. Spider-Man joined them a second later. Team was faced off against team. Whatever they had just been through, this was the real fight. Tony's team stood in between them and the jet. Neither side would surrender. Aspen didn't want to fight her friends although right now Natasha was the only one she would count as a friend. She still felt the string of betrayal. Tony had crossed too many lines, and Aspen wasn't sure she could forgive him.

"What do we do, Cap?" Sam asked, sounding hesitant. Aspen wasn't the only one who felt torn about this.

"We fight," Steve said, and Aspen wished she had his confidence. She knew he didn't want to fight their friends any more than she did, but they needed to get to Siberia to stop a bigger threat. Tony and his team were standing in the way of that. Steve had given them the chance to listen, but they hadn't.

Steve started walking forward and they followed, spread out behind him like soldiers. Aspen pulled energy into her palms, letting it build as Tony's team came to meet them. Her pulse was beating furiously, and she felt a trill of dread at what was about to happen. They started to run, the battle looming ever closer. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Avenger against Avenger. Friend against friend. How had it come to this?

Tony and Rhodey took to the air as Sam did the same. Wanda lifted off with a push of her red energy and Vision floated upwards. Steve skidded to a stop, lifting his shield as Tony pulled back a metal fist. Aspen sent out a force at Spider-Man as he tried to fling his webbing at her. Rhodey and Sam clashed above them while T'Challa went after Bucky with a vengeance. Natasha and Scott fought hand to hand while Clint shot arrows up at Vision. Wanda used her powers to throw cars at Spider-Man as he used his webs to swoop around them. It was total and utter chaos. An arrow exploded as it hit Tony's armor. Aspen summoned up a ball of fire and flung it up at Rhodey, giving Sam a chance to recover. She helped where she could, but both sides were very nearly equally matched. Natasha switched to fighting Clint and seemed to be getting the better of him until Wanda grabbed Natasha's foot with her red energy, sending her spiraling to the ground.

T'Challa was still fighting Bucky, determined to get his revenge for his father. Aspen ran toward them, intending to intervene. Before she could get there, T'Challa kicked Bucky, sending him flying into a stack of crates. Bucky fell to the ground, trying to get out of the way as T'Challa let loose the razor sharp claws in the finger tips of his suit. Wanda caught his hand before the claws could sink into Bucky's throat, sending the Wakandan king flying backwards away from Bucky. Aspen went after him to keep him from going after Bucky again. As the king leapt down from the jetway he'd crashed into, Aspen kicked out at him, hitting him in the chest. T'Challa stumbled backwards, but recovered quickly, striking out at Aspen, claws retracted once again.

"You want vengeance," Aspen said, ducking the blow and striking out with a surge of energy. "I get it. My father was killed too." She blocked a blow, stumbling backwards from the force of it. "But Bucky didn't kill your father."

"Show me your proof," T'Challa told her from behind the mask.

"Sometimes it's not that easy," Aspen said, holding him back with an energy that made it difficult for him to move. "We're trying to follow a lead that might help us find out who really caused that bombing, but we're not going to solve anything if you kill Bucky."

"You're missing the point." Aspen ducked as Tony came flying at her. "He killed people yesterday. You gonna just ignore that?" Tony asked.

T'Challa took the chance to sideswipe Aspen, sending her rolling across the ground. She landed hard, the breath knocked out of her. Clint was there a second later, pulling her to her feet, eyes crinkled with worry.

"You okay, Pen?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, catching her breath. Clint turned to T'Challa, eyes blazing. Tony was headed straight toward Steve and Bucky, so Aspen hurled herself after him, pouring every ounce of energy that she could find into her hands. Tony slowed, her energy pulling on him until he was stopped midair. He looked back at her, and Aspen looked at Steve. "Go," she said to him.

" _We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now_ ," Bucky told Steve. Aspen could hear them through the comms. Steve's eyes were locked on Aspen, but he nodded.

" _We've got a problem_ ," Sam said. " _There's a pile of rubble blocking the jet. Tony brought his own quinjet though. Head for that. It's in Hanger Five."_

" _We gotta draw out the flyers_ ," Steve said to Bucky. " _I'll take Vision. You get to the jet_."

" _No, you get to the jet. Both of you. The rest of us aren't getting out of here. As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one some of us might have to lose it. This isn't the real fight, Steve,_ " Sam insisted.

"He's right," Aspen said. She felt her energy waning as she continued to hold Tony's suit down. She heard a creaking of metal and loosened the pressure a little. She didn't want to crush him inside though the power thrumming under her fingers told her it would be simple to crush the suit like a tin can. She shook her head. This was why she didn't give into her powers. This was the part that frightened her.

" _All right, Sam,_ " Steve said. " _What's the play?_ "

" _We need a diversion. Something big_ ," Sam replied. Rhodey swooped down after him, and Sam took off, weaving to avoid the War Machine's weaponry. Clint was firing arrows here and there. Aspen's hands were shaking. She didn't think she could hold Tony much longer. He was straining, slowly regaining control of his hands.

" _I got something kinda big,_ " Scott said. " _But I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell._ "

" _Aspen…_ "

"You need to go," Aspen cut off Steve. "Sam's right. You and Bucky need to go."

Behind her she saw something huge shifting and turned to see that Scott was gigantic suddenly. He took hold of Rhodey, preventing the War Machine suit from flying anywhere.

" _I guess that's the signal_ ," Steve said. " _Stay safe._ "

"You too." Aspen watched him and Bucky take off toward the jet.

Something fired so close to her that her concentration broke. Tony had freed one of his repulsor rays, and her hold on him broke. He flew straight at her, and she rolled to the side. Sam took after him, kicking Tony hard enough to send him flying backwards. Scott flung Rhodey with his gigantic hand. T'Challa started after Bucky and Steve, but Scott kicked a bus at him, cutting off his path. Vision landed in front of T'Challa, saving him from being plowed down by the bus. If it was chaos before, it was tenfold that now. Scott threw part of an airplane at Tony, and it exploded, sending everyone scattering. Aspen climbed atop one of the jetways as Tony started after Steve and Bucky again. As he passed, she flung herself after him, grabbing onto his neck and pulling him down, using her abilities to weigh him down. They started to fall, and Tony grabbed her, trying to fling her off of him. Aspen's fingers slipped from the suit, and she wondered for a second if he knew it was her who'd attacked him. It was a long way to fall, and she went numb for a second, forgetting her abilities as she fell. Something metal grasped her hand before she hit the ground, wrenching her arm. Her feet touched the cement and Tony landed in front of her.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" he shouted at her, taking a step toward her, Iron Man suit clanking against the ground.

"Like you care!" It was immature, but Aspen was still hurt from Tony's betrayal more than she wanted to admit.

"Of course I care!" Tony stabbed a metal finger at her. "You think I _want_ to fight you? Damnit, Aspen. You do realize you're going to be arrested when this is over. I can't do anything to stop that."

"Of course you can," Aspen said with a faint smile. "You're just choosing not to."

"Just stay out of it," Tony snapped before flying off in pursuit of Scott. Aspen looked around, trying to catch sight of Steve and Bucky – to see if they'd made it to the jet. T'Challa and Natasha were conspicuously gone. Vision was hovering near Wanda who held her head as if in pain.

"Aspen, are you okay?" Clint came running up to her, grabbing her arms and looking her over.

"I'm fine, Clint," she said though her arm felt as if it'd been wretched from its socket and her body was shaking from exertion. "Some fight."

Clint gave her a stiff smile, sliding an arm around her waist. "Come on. I think you've had enough." As he spoke, the quinjet took off overhead, gaining altitude fast. Scott was back to regular size, and Tony and Rhodey took off after the jet.

"I have to stop them," Aspen started, but Clint shook his head.

"No, you don't. You've done enough."

Sam was in pursuit, shooting off rockets to catch them off guard. Rhodey dodged, and Aspen saw a yellow ray of light coming from behind her. Vision was using the stone in his head to shoot at Sam. At the last minute, Sam dropped and the ray struck someone else. Aspen squinted as someone fell from the sky. Rhodey. She watched as he plummeted toward the ground, two other figures flying after him. "Oh God…" So far no one had been seriously hurt, but if Rhodey hit the ground from that altitude… Tony and Sam were close, but Rhodey hit the ground before they could reach him.

Aspen's vision blurred. Her legs couldn't hold her suddenly, and she slumped in Clint's grip. "Aspen!" He pulled her up into his arms, cradling her as her vision began to dot black. Her abilities had sucked her dry. Her whole body was aching, and she suddenly feared that she'd hurt more than just herself.

"Clint, I…" She tried to get the words out but failed, her tongue growing thick and unyielding. She couldn't seem to form words.

"Hang on," he told her. Her vision had gone completely black, her ears ringing. She was vaguely aware of him walking with her, holding tightly onto her, before she succumbed to the darkness.


	61. Siberia

**Author's Note:** This turned out to be a long chapter, so there will be at least one more! It's been a bit heart-wrenching to write. So I totally already wrote Zemo into the story line - old man Zemo, that is. That's in _A Game of Enemies_. Yeah, so kind of awkward since movie Steve hasn't interacted with any Zemo. I'm going with Zemo was estranged from his father or adopted or something. Civil War is already complex enough without adding in the whole 'you fought my daddy during WWII' plot. Anyway, he'd only have a bone to pick with Steve then, not so much all the Avengers. I won't even get into the logistics of this movie. Like how does Tony get to Siberia shortly after Steve and Bucky even though he has: taken Rhodey to the hospital, gone back to New York, visited the Raft, etc. They left HOURS earlier. It's like one of those math problems from high school: Steve and Bucky took the 11:00 train going 45 mph. Tony took the 5:00 train going the same speed. They arrive at the same time. How is this possible? ... Maybe Tony's suit can fly way faster than quintets? I just don't know.

* * *

 **57 – Siberia – June 24, 2016**

In Aspen's dream, she was back in Avengers Tower. She was laughing at something Clint had said, doubled over, her sides aching. Her team members were there: Steve, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor. It felt safe and comfortable in a way Aspen hadn't felt for ages. She entwined her fingers with Steve's. Bruce and Thor were talking while Natasha and Tony seemed to getting good-naturedly fired up over something. She felt lighter, less worries weighing on her shoulders. Everyone was happy, still friends, still a team. She leaned back into Steve's shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her. Phoenix slunk into the room, skirting past Tony and leaping up into Bruce's lap, purring loudly. Aspen was happy and more than that, she was home. She remembered that moment well. She remembered looking around at her teammates' faces thinking to herself how lucky she was to be there.

The scene faded, and Aspen found herself blinking awake. She was no longer in Avengers Tower, but back in the Avengers compound. She was lying on the couch, a weight on her chest. She realized after a moment that it was Phoenix. The cat was purring roughly, curled into a compact bundle. Aspen blinked, confused. The last thing she remembered was blacking out at the airport in Leipzig, cradled in Clint's arms. Where was Steve? Had he gotten away? Where was the rest of her team? Aspen sat up, dislodging Phoenix. The cat darted away, and Aspen held her head as it throbbed.

"Careful." Natasha was sitting across from her, her face giving away her worry.

"What happened? Where are the others?" Aspen asked, looking around. They seemed to be alone. The compound was unsettlingly silent.

"I convinced Tony to let me bring you here," Natasha told her slowly.

"Where are the others?" Aspen asked again.

"Steve and Bucky got away. The others…they were arrested. I'm sorry, Aspen. I didn't want that to happen." She looked away. "They'll be after me next after T'Challa tells them what I did."

"What did you do?"

"I stopped him from catching Steve and Bucky. I let them go." She looked back up at Aspen, eyes begging for forgiveness. "We should have listened."

"It's too late now." Aspen's head still ached, and she felt as if her body was covered in bruises. She put a hand to her stomach. Natasha's eyes followed the movement.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Aspen said. "Using my powers took a lot out of me." She reached out, trying to sense another heartbeat, terrified that she might have hurt her unborn child. She felt something faint but something decidedly alive. She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Everything's fine."

"I was afraid…afraid for you when I saw you unconscious in Clint's arms."

"Did you tell Tony? You said you convinced him to let you bring me here." She hugged her arms around herself. She didn't like the feeling of knowing her team was locked away, didn't like not knowing if Steve was safe, didn't like feeling so alone.

"No. I just said you were hurt, that you needed to come here, come home. He still has a soft spot for you, you know. You're like a daughter to him in a lot of ways. Ross wants you arrested though. The agreement was that you'd be under house arrest."

"I need to get to Siberia. I need to help Steve and Bucky." She stood, feeling disoriented.

Natasha stood across from her, and Aspen tensed, waiting for Natasha to try to stop her. "I know."

"You're going to let me go?"

"Would you let me stop you?" Natasha countered with a sad smile.

"Probably not. This isn't home anymore. I'm not welcome here." She looked around sadly, realizing that once she left there would be no coming back. She felt herself begin to panic but pushed it back. She needed to focus on one thing at a time, and right now there was a bigger problem at hand.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way," Natasha said.

"What are you going to do? Ross will be calling for your arrest too," Aspen said, turning her attention to Natasha.

Natasha shook her head. "Do what I always do," she said. "Find a new identity. Disappear."

"After all we've done for the world, you would think we might not have to go on the run."

"Take care of yourself," Natasha told her.

"You too." Aspen was surprised when Natasha pulled her into a hug. Aspen held on to her tightly, not knowing when she would next see her.

"If you need my help, I'll be there," Natasha promised her. "Take a jet before Tony gets back."

"I'll call my mom and have her get Phoenix," Aspen said. She pulled away. "What about Clint and the others?"

"They're being kept in a high security prison called the Raft," Natasha told her. "It's in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."

Aspen sighed. "One step at a time, right? I should go."

"Be careful."

"You too."

Aspen took one of the quinjets, putting it in stealth mode and setting in coordinates for Siberia. Her heart was beating furiously. It had been hours since Steve and Bucky had left the airport in Germany. They'd be in Siberia by now. She didn't know how much she could do to help, but she needed to know that they were safe. She'd checked her phone, but there had been no messages. She called her mom when she was in the air, quinjet on autopilot. Her mom answered on the first ring.

"Aspen, what's happening?" she asked. "According to the news, Steve is wanted by the government. Bucky too. Did you find him? Are you safe?"

"I'm fine," Aspen told her. "I'm on my way to Siberia right now. That's where Steve and Bucky are. Sam, Clint, and Wanda are in prison right now. Everything's a disaster."

"I don't understand what's happening."

"I'm not sure I do either," Aspen told her. "Everything happened so fast. One minute we were a team, the next… Now we're wanted by the government. I just had to walk away from my home for probably the last time. That's why I called. I was hoping you could fly to New York and get Phoenix for me. Take care of her. I don't know where I'm going after this. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You can come home and live with me, Pen. You and Steve. You're always welcome."

"No, Mom. We can't. I'm not getting you involved in this." She wished she could go home, wished it were that easy.

"I'll get Phoenix and take good care of her until you can come get her." Her mom sounded stubbornly optimistic.

"Mom…" Aspen's voice shook. "I'm pregnant. I took a test… What am I going to do?"

"Oh, Aspen, honey…"

"Now you see what I meant when I said it wasn't a good time," Aspen said wryly.

"No matter what happens, you have support," Ava said. "I'm here whenever you need me. I don't care if the law is chasing after you, you're my daughter, and I will shelter you no matter what."

"Thank you, Mom. I promise I'll call and let you know when I'm safe."

"What's in Siberia?" Ava asked.

"Steve and Bucky are going after these super soldiers that Hydra created. Someone means to set them loose on the world, and we need to stop them. We didn't sign the Accords, so we're acting outside the law."

"I trust you and Steve," Ava said. "Much more than I trust the government or any Accords. Just be careful."

"I will. I promise I will. I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Aspen."

After Aspen hung up, she sat back and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. She felt drained as if someone had sucked every bit of energy from her. She didn't even have to try to mute her powers; they were nearly inexistent. She didn't understand what was happening to her, but right now she was more worried about getting to Siberia. She had a long flight ahead of her, so she tried to calm her mind and set her eyes on the horizon.

…

Somehow they managed to get away. Steve could feel the weight of leaving his friends behind, not knowing what would happen to them. As if reading his thoughts, Bucky asked, "What's gonna happen to your friends?"

Steve stared straight ahead. Then he sighed and shook his head. "Whatever it is… I'll deal with it." He didn't know where Aspen was, and that terrified him. He knew she could take care of herself, but it felt a little like abandonment.

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve," Bucky said solemnly from the backseat of the quinjet. Steve glanced back at him.

"What you did all those years... It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice." He knew how guilty Bucky felt. There was no way to erase all those years, all the missions he'd done as the Winter Soldier.

"I know. But I did it," Bucky said sadly.

"You shouldn't have to pay for what Hydra did to you." He wasn't going to let his best friend suffer any longer.

"Aspen's back there. I didn't mean to make you choose me over her," Bucky told him.

"You didn't," Steve said, lifting his brow in surprise.

Bucky shook his head. "I'm just sorry she has to deal with whatever the consequences for our actions are."

"Aspen can take care of herself," Steve said. "She'll be fine." He didn't sound convincing even to himself. He glanced down at the gold band on his finger. Hadn't he sworn to protect her? He'd left her behind. Maybe she'd be safer there, wherever she was. He didn't know what he and Bucky were walking into.

"You're lucky," Bucky told him. "She seems like an incredible person."

"I am. She is. I don't know what I'd do without her. I just…I just sometimes wish I could give her more than this. More than this uncertainty. Our lives have never been normal, but right now…right now I don't know what I have to offer her. I can't keep her safe. I can't give her a home…" He broke off. "Right now I have to focus on Siberia. On the doctor and on the super soldiers."

"Every once in awhile it's okay to think about you, Steve," Bucky told him, and Steve could hear the smile in his voice. He glanced back at his friend. "You always put yourself last."

"This is more important than me right now."

"Whatever's waiting for us there, we've got each other. Just like old times, right?" Bucky smiled, and Steve felt like he had been sent back in time for a moment. He felt like he had his old friend back.

"Just like old times," he agreed.

…

The doors to the Hydra compound were open as if welcoming Steve and Bucky in. They were set into the side of a rocky face, well hidden if you didn't already know where they were. By the truck parked a few yards away, they knew the fake doctor was already here.

"He can't have been here more than a few hours," Steve said as they stepped through the thick snow. It was bitterly cold outside, snow making visibility low.

"Long enough to wake them up," Bucky said. Steve took a deep breath before walking toward the doors. They didn't know what would be awaiting them, but he readied himself for a fight. For _another_ fight.

There was an elevator at the end of the hall that would take them into the underground base. Hydra always did like to burrow down under the ground where their dirty work could be done in secret. In the silence of the elevator, Steve glanced at Bucky wondering how it felt to return to one of the places he'd been kept as the Winter Solider. As Bucky met Steve's gaze, Steve gave his friend a small nod. They were in this together. They had each other's backs just like they always had. Steve tried not to think of Bucky slipping from the side of the train, of his own outstretched hand. If he'd caught Bucky instead of letting him fall… He couldn't go down that path though. He'd been down it so many times throughout the years. What mattered now was that Bucky was at his side as his friend and not as the Winter Soldier.

The elevator rumbled to a stop, and the doors slid open. Steve glanced through the metal grating before pulling it up. Bucky positioned the machine gun he'd taken from the quinjet, and Steve gripped his shield a little harder as they walked down a dim hallway painted in a depressing shade of green. Thick layers of dust and cobwebs coated everything. Steve doubted it had been touched in years. They had started up a narrow staircase when a loud thud came from behind them. Steve whirled, heart beating a little faster. He crouched down, shield out. Bucky knelt above him, aiming the machine gun toward the source of the sound. A door at the end of the hall began to creak.

"You ready?" Steve asked.

"Yeah."

To Steve's surprise, it was not an army of super soldiers that came through the doors but Tony in his red and gold Iron Man suit. He pried the doors apart, pushing them until he could walk through. Steve didn't know if he should relax or stay tense. Had Tony listened after all or had he come to arrest them? Again. No one else entered behind Tony though. He was alone. As he opened his helmet and strode forward, Steve came to meet him. Tony glanced around, and Steve noted the bruises on his face. His right eye was particularly black.

"You seem a little defensive," Tony told him.

"It's been a long day." Steve hadn't lowered his shield yet. Bucky stayed behind him, machine gun aimed at Tony. Tony looked up at him.

"At ease, soldier. I'm not currently after you," he told Bucky.

"Then why are you here?" Steve asked. He didn't lower his shield and Bucky didn't follow Tony's command.

Tony shrugged. "Could be your story's not so crazy," he said. "Maybe." He had reached Steve and stopped. "Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way." He leaned up against one of the walls, the metal of his suit clanking. "Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork," Steve told him, unwilling to trust or forgive him just yet.

Tony let out a short laugh. Steve finally lowered his shield. "It's good to see you, Tony." It meant a lot that Tony had finally been able to put aside their differences and accept that he'd been mistaken, that Steve had been telling the truth. Tony was breaking the accords by being here. Steve would be lying if he said having Tony to back them up wasn't a relief.

"You too, Cap," Tony said, the anger and hostility that he'd shown earlier in Germany gone. He looked as worn as Steve felt. None of them had had it easy in the last few days. Tony glanced back up to Bucky. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me," he said. He motioned to the machine gun. "There's a truce here. You can drop…"

Steve motioned for Bucky to lower his weapon, and he finally did though he kept it tucked close to his body.

"The doctor," Tony told them, "he wasn't who he said he was. The UN dispatched a doctor Theo Broussard, but he didn't make it to Berlin. He was found dead in his hotel room. The police also found a wig and prosthetics that looked like Barnes." He glanced at Bucky. It wasn't an apology, but at least he was acknowledging the fact that Bucky had been framed.

"And the fake doctor?"

"A Colonel Helmut Zemo. He headed a Sokovian covert kill squad."

"Zemo?" That name was very familiar to Steve. "We met his father in Austria. Actually, we had a bit of a history. I thought his son was dead."

"Guess not."

They wandered further into the facility, past broken glass and abandoned rooms.

"Does Ross know about this?" Steve asked Tony.

"He does."

"But he won't do anything about it?" Steve guessed.

"He doesn't really trust me after Leipzig," Tony said with a shrug.

"He's got a very limited view on the world," Steve said. "Only sees what he wants to."

Tony didn't reply, but Steve had a feeling Tony was having second thoughts about allying with Ross.

They rounded a corner and found themselves in a circular hall that led into a dark, expansive chamber. Steve could only make out shapes but nothing distinctive. Tony shut the helmet on his Iron Man suit. "I got heat signatures," he said.

"How many?" Steve asked.

"Uh, one," Tony said, sounding a little surprised. That didn't sound right. Something was off, and Steve readjusted the grip on his shield as they entered the room. They paused at the edge of it and suddenly yellow lights flickered on, illuminating five huge capsules. The light was sickly in the underground chamber. Steve's eyes flitted around, and it took a moment to realize what he was seeing as he stepped further into the room.

A voice broke the stillness, speaking to him from a speaker. " _If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep_." He recognized the voice of the fake doctor now.

They walked past the round capsules, and Steve saw that the five winter soldiers were sitting in them, still, peaceful, as if they might wake up at any moment. The bullet holes in their heads told him they wouldn't.

" _Did you really think I wanted more of you?_ "

"What the hell?" Bucky asked, bringing the machine gun up to his shoulder. He looked around at the dead soldiers.

" _I'm grateful to them, though,_ " Zemo continued. " _They brought you here_."

He spoke from the far end of the room, and Bucky, Tony, and Steve walked toward it. A light flickered on, illuminating Zemo's face. Tony threw up one of his hands, repulsor ray ready. Steve hurled his shield, but it hit a plate of thick glass, ricocheting back to Steve.

" _Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets_."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony said, circling around to the right with Steve. Bucky circled left. In the center of the room there was some sort of console surrounded by a metal gate, but Steve didn't take his attention from Zemo.

" _Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark_ ," Zemo said indulgently. " _Given time. But then you'd never know why you came._ "

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked. It made no sense. If this were about Zemo's father, then why go to all the effort of staging the bombing? No, he didn't think this was about his father. Steve reached the glass window, coming face to face with Helmut Zemo.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year." Steve could hear his voice clearly through the glass now. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized…there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes." Zemo chuckled as Steve pulled back a little, unsettled by Zemo's words. "How nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian," Steve said. "Is that what this is about?"

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell," Zemo said, shaking his head.

"Your father..." Steve started, but Zemo cut him off.

"My father was a careless man. I cut myself off from him years ago. No. I'm here because I made a promise."

Steve took in his words. "You lost someone?"

Zemo clicked his tongue as if scolding Steve. "I lost _everyone_ ," he said. "And so will you." He lowered his eyes, pressing a button on some machine inside the small room. A screen flickered to life behind Steve reading December 16th, 1991.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again but one which crumbles from within?" Steve glanced back at Zemo. "That's dead. Forever."


	62. Empires Fall

**58 – Empires Fall – June 24, 2016**

Steve walked over to the screen, watching as a black and white video started to play. Tony stood next to him, glancing down at the screen. He seemed deeply unsettled by it as it began to play. He glanced at Steve. "I know that road." He glanced down at the date on the videotape and then up at Zemo, eyes both terrified and angry. "What is this?"

Zemo said nothing, so Tony glanced back down at the screen. Bucky stayed back. He already knew what was on this video. This was the mission report Zemo had asked him for. Steve felt a sense of dread as a car came careening into view, hitting a tree with such a force that the hood crumpled upwards in an upside-down V. Steam surged from the engine like a chimney. A motorcycle pulled around the back of the car, stopping. A familiar figure got off of the bike. Steve glanced at Tony, watching his reaction. He knew what this video was, knew what it would show. He wished Tony didn't have to watch it.

He'd guessed that Bucky had killed Tony's parents as the Winter Soldier. Zola had shown him as much in the old SHIELD facility he and Natasha had found in Wheaton, New Jersey. Zola had showed them a video montage of all of Hydra's work. Accidents they had caused. Deaths they had called for. There had been an article about Howard and Maria Stark. They'd died in a car crash in December of 1991.

The video showed Bucky walking toward Howard. It didn't make it any better when Howard recognized him. " _Sergeant Barnes_?" he asked.

" _Howard_!" Maria called from inside the car. Tony looked up at Bucky who slowly met his gaze, caution written on his face. Tony's eyes flitted back to the screen as the Winter Soldier beat Howard to death. Maria called out her husband's name again. The Winter Soldier dragged Howard back to the car, setting his body in the driver's seat as Maria sobbed. Bucky – _no_ – the Winter Soldier, walked around the other side of the car. He wrapped his hands around Maria's neck. They couldn't see it in detail, but it was clear that Tony's parents had both died at his hands. The end of the video showed the Winter Soldier walking up to the camera and shooting it.

Steve watched Tony, waiting for his reaction. Zemo was all but forgotten, watching from behind glass like this was a Sunday matinee. Tony turned to attack Bucky, but Steve caught him, holding him back. "No, Tony," he told him. Was there any way he could keep Tony from blaming Bucky? Was there any way that he could differentiate Bucky from the Winter Soldier?

Tony turned back to Steve, the hurt so clear in his eyes, that Steve could feel it like a blow. "Did you know?" Tony asked. His eyes were watery but hard, holding such an array of emotions.

"I didn't know it was him." He couldn't bring himself to tell the truth, not when it could do so much damage. It had never been confirmed before. It was just a theory; an idea that Steve had never wanted to believe was true.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?" Tony's eyes were fire now, boring into Steve as if he could pull the answer out of sheer will.

"Yes." As soon as the word left his lips, Steve knew there was no going back from that.

Tony pulled away from him like the word had burned him. The betrayal in his eyes hurt. Then he turned away, nodding, accepting what Steve had said. Steve couldn't read him, didn't know how he was going to react. He wanted to apologize, but what could he say? Then Tony swung out a fist, connecting with Steve's face and sending him flying across the room, hitting the floor hard.

His helmet slammed down as he turned on Bucky, disarming him before grabbing him and flying across the chamber with Bucky in his grip. He slammed him into the floor, pinning him down. Steve ran across the room, ramming into Tony with his shield and dislodging him from Bucky. Tony retaliated, flying straight at his shield and sending Steve flying backwards to the ground. He shot something at Steve's ankles and shackles formed, tightening around Steve's legs. Bucky was on his feet again and punched Tony before Tony turned and slammed him against a machine. He tried to aim one of the repulsors on his hand at Bucky's head, but Bucky caught his hand with his metal one, twisting it backwards until the repulsor ray sparked and shut down, glass shattering. In retaliation, Tony shot a rocket from the arm of his suit just as Bucky pushed it away. The rocket shot straight into the metal structures across the chamber. The structures started to fall, metal and glass breaking and tumbling straight toward Steve. He slammed his shield down on the shackles, freeing himself and bolting out of the way.

Explosions lit up the chamber, and he looked up to see that Tony had Bucky in his grasp again, metal hand around his throat. Steve rolled out of the way to avoid some of the crumbling metal. Bucky and Tony fell to the floor. A huge metal beam struck Tony on the back, keeping him down for a moment.

"Get out of here!" Steve shouted at Bucky, motioning for him to leave. Tony wasn't going to stop. Steve knew there was nothing he could say to stop him from going after Bucky.

Bucky ran for it as Tony freed himself. He shot at Bucky but missed. Steve leapt in front of him, putting himself between Tony and Bucky. The silo above began to open as Bucky slammed his hand into a control button.

"It wasn't him, Tony!" Steve told Tony as he lifted off from the ground. "Hydra had control of his mind!"

"Move!" Tony shouted at him, expression murderous.

"It wasn't him!" Tony took off, but Steve reached out and grabbed the ankle of the Iron Man suit, smashing his shield into it twice until the light blinked out and Tony went flying into the ground. He ran after him, but Tony used a ray to cut down the stone archway above them, effectively cutting off Steve. He flew upward, faltering as his boot began to fail. He slowly made his way upwards as Bucky climbed as quickly as he could. Steve chased after them, climbing over the fallen stone and climbing up the metal platforms as quickly as he could. He landed in front of Bucky just in time to block a blast from Tony. The blast rebounded off of the shield, sending Tony flying backwards.

"He's not going to stop," Steve told Bucky, helping him up. "Go." As Bucky leapt upward, Steve slid his shield onto his back and grabbed a reel of wire from his belt. As Tony flew upwards, Steve flipped to the other side of the silo, shooting the wire so it caught around Tony's neck. They both fell down, slamming into the metal platforms that ran around the inside of the silo. Bucky had nearly reached the top. Tony aimed at Bucky, and Steve sent his shield flying at him. This time Tony was ready, deflecting the shield before returning his attention to Bucky. Steve's shield fell toward the bottom of the silo. Tony shot a rocket upward, hitting the metal hinge of the door. The door slammed shut, forcing Bucky to drop down. Tony went after him again, deflecting the metal pipe Bucky used as a weapon before grabbing him around the neck.

Several platforms below, Steve could hear him ask, "Do you even remember them?"

"I remember all of them," Bucky said. He pushed them both backwards off the platform, and Steve leapt, grabbing onto them as they all tumbled down. Bucky landed on one of the metal platforms, while Steve and Tony continued falling. Steve slammed into a cement wall at the bottom, rolling down it, his body aching from the blow. Some of the snowdrift had blown onto the concrete underneath him, and the cold seeped into his suit. Tony had fallen to the other side of the concrete wall but pulled himself up onto the wall now. Steve stood to meet him, breathing hard.

"This isn't gonna change what happened," Steve told him.

"I don't care," Tony told him. "He killed my mom."

He flew at Steve, fist pulled back. Steve ducked out of the way and the blow glanced off the side of his head. They exchanged blows until Steve managed to get a grip around Tony's throat, arms squeezing tight around the metal. Tony blasted backwards, dislodging Steve and then pinning him to the ground, raising a fist to punch him. His fist hit the concrete next to Steve's head as Steve pulled to the side. He managed to punch Steve in the face before Bucky came flying down at him, sending the shield slamming into Tony's back. Tony went sprawling, sending off a repulsor ray at Bucky who blocked it with the shield before tossing it to Steve and ducking a blow from Tony. He kicked out at Tony's stomach as Steve struck Tony's helmeted head with the shield. He passed the shield off to Bucky, their fighting rhythmic as they brought Tony to his knees. Then one of his repulsor rays hit Steve straight in the stomach, sending him flying back into the wall. He fell to the ground, pain wracking his body. Bucky continued the fight while Steve tired to get to his feet again. Bucky managed to pin Tony against the opposite wall, one hand flat against his helmet, the other scrabbling madly at the arc reactor in his chest, trying desperately to tear it out. He seemed to be succeeding as sparks flew out of the glowing circle, but then a golden ray shot out and Bucky was sent spiraling to the ground. Loose wires and ragged metal stuck out from the remainder of his metal arm. Tony had blasted it off up to the shoulder. He shot another blast from his hand, hitting Bucky in the back. Steve forced himself to his feet, past the pain, holding his shield out and running at Tony. When he had reached Tony's outstretched hands, he bent one knee, holding strong against the repulsor rays Tony sent at him. The shield held up to it, a fiery yellow glow erupting where they connected.

Steve gained the upper hand with the next blow, striking out with his shield while punching with the other hand. He knew he wasn't thinking clearly, perhaps not thinking at all as he continued to punch the metal shell. Tony wasn't going to give up. He was going to keep fighting until Bucky was dead, and Steve wasn't going to let that happen. He landed blow after blow, Tony unable to fight back. Then Tony grabbed Steve's shield, his grip too strong for Steve to break it. Tony tossed the shield backwards before shooting Steve straight in the chest again. He was pushed back by the force of it but was on his feet the next moment, blocking a blow. He took the next one, and the next, the metal crashing into his face before Tony shot him again in the chest. He fell to his knees, the pain incredible. He could feel the blood on his face now where Tony had struck him. He looked up, waiting for another blow.

"He's my friend," he said, breathing hard. He knew it wouldn't placate Tony, but he was desperate.

"So was I," Tony replied. He struck Steve's face once. Twice. Steve fell to his hands, coughing blood now. Tony grabbed him and flung him at the stone pillars that stood before the tundra outside. He hit one and then the other before falling to the ground. He spat out blood into the white snow.

"Stay down. Final warning," Tony told him.

Steve ignored him, using the pillars to drag himself to his feet. He raised his fists, unsteady on his feet. "I could do this all day," he said.

Tony raised his hand to shoot Steve again with his repulsor ray. Bucky grabbed his leg, and Tony kicked him hard. Steve took his chance. He grabbed Tony, lifting the Iron Man armor clean off the ground. Tony struggled, rockets in his feet alighting. Steve tossed him into the stone pillars, pinning him down before he had the chance to stand again. He punched the helmet over and over before grabbing his shield and using it to bash the helmet. The metal broke, and Steve ripped the helmet off. Tony's face was bloody underneath, and Steve could see fear in his eyes as he raised the shield over Tony's head. Tony shielded his face with his arms, but Steve aimed lower, embedding the shield in Tony's arc reactor. Tony gasped, letting his arms drop to the side. His face still showed fear as Steve crouched above him, holding tight to the shield, panting hard.

Steve closed his eyes, letting the pain consume him. How had they let this happen? Zemo was all but forgotten, probably long gone while they'd fought amongst themselves – exactly what he'd wanted. He slipped sideways, off of the Iron Man suit, his muscles groaning with the effort of the fight. He lay there for a moment, slumped in the snow before forcing himself to his feet. He pulled the shield out of the suit, sliding it over his right arm. He limped over to Bucky as Tony tried to pull himself up, pulling his friend up by his good arm. Bucky put it around Steve's shoulder, leaning heavily on him.

"That shield doesn't belong to you," Tony called after him. Steve turned away from him, but Tony wasn't done. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"

Steve stopped walking, standing for a moment before letting the shield drop from his hand. Maybe he didn't deserve it. Maybe after all he'd done, he'd crossed a line. It hit the ground with a clang, and Steve walked away, supporting Bucky. Whatever the cost, he had saved his friend. Right now that was what mattered. Bucky was more important to him than that shield, than the title that came with it. Maybe it was time to be Steve Rogers. Time to be himself instead of the legend bound by expectations.

His vision began to blur as he and Bucky breathed the open air. The snow had stopped falling, but the air was bitterly cold. He heard someone calling his name and looked up to see Aspen running toward him.

"Oh my god…" She touched his face so gently he could hardly feel it before wrapping an arm around Bucky's waist and helping Steve support him. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner." Steve didn't have the energy to respond, so she continued. "T'Challa is here," she told him. "He's got Zemo. He told me what he overheard."

She led him to a jet that must have belonged to the Wakandan king. The Black Panther stood outside, helmet removed. Steve hesitated, but Aspen looked up at him. "It's okay," she said. "He knows the truth now. He knows Bucky is innocent."

T'Challa took in the sight, and Steve knew they must look a mess. Then T'Challa reached out to take Bucky, to help him onto the jet. "Come with me," he said. "I have somewhere safe you can go."

Steve just nodded his thanks, and Aspen wrapped an arm around his waist. The jet was small, and she squeezed in beside him and Bucky. Zemo was handcuffed in the very back, silent.

"We will take him back to the Terrorist Center in Berlin," T'Challa told them. "You can stay in the jet. I don't think General Ross is open to discussion right now."

"The others are at a high security prison called the Raft," Aspen told Steve. She had wrapped her arm around his and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Clint, Wanda, Sam, and Scott. Natasha is on the run now after…" She glanced at T'Challa.

"I am sorry she is on the run," he said. "I did not realize when I turned her in that she was right to let you go."

"It's okay," Steve told him.

"None of this was simple," Aspen said. She glanced back at Zemo but said nothing to him. Steve didn't have the energy to explain anything so they flew in silence.

…

Aspen awoke when the jet landed in Wakanda. She looked around her in awe, wishing she could have woken up sooner. All she knew about the legendary African nation was that they mined vibranium here and that T'Challa was its new king since the late king's passing. She also knew that he was being incredibly generous by bringing them here for sanctuary. He'd accepted the truth that Bucky was innocent with more ease than anyone so far had. Unlike some, he wasn't ashamed to admit he'd made a mistake. As they alighted from the jet, Aspen had to stare around her in awe. The city was like nothing she'd ever seen before, ancient and tribal yet more advanced than any civilization she'd ever seen.

"Welcome to my home," T'Challa told them.

It was the first time in a long time Aspen felt safe. Steve and Bucky were taken to be seen by medics. Aspen wasn't hurt, but she stayed close, unwilling to lose sight of Steve again. It pained her to see how beaten up he was. She wondered what Tony looked like. Steve had told her the whole story after they'd dropped Zemo off in Berlin, and Aspen had been both horrified and angered by it. She was angry that Tony had tried to kill Bucky, that he hadn't been able to differentiate between the good man who had been a victim of Hydra and the Winter Solider who'd been brainwashed over and over to carry out Hydra's deeds. She was horrified that Zemo had manipulated them like that, that Tony had had to watch a video of his parents being murdered. Whatever he'd done, he didn't deserve that.

Bucky's metal arm was cleaned up, an elasticized piece of cloth neatly pulled over the ragged end. Aspen had grabbed a bag of spare clothes that had been stowed in the quinjet Steve had stolen from Tony before they'd taken off from Siberia. They were given rooms to clean up and rest in after Bucky and Steve's injuries had been tended to. Aspen took a long shower, letting the hot water soothe away her aches and pains. It felt good to change out of her suit with the Avengers A branded onto the shoulder and into her normal clothes that didn't make her feel so sad.

Steve's face was badly bruised, the cuts on his cheeks beginning to heal but still looking raw and painful. He had changed back into his regular clothes as well, standing at the window that overlooked the city. Aspen joined him, standing in silence for several minutes before speaking.

"How did this happen?" she asked softly.

He let out a long sigh. "I don't know. Apparently it had been in the making for a long time."

"Zemo really did all that for revenge? He didn't come after us after his father died."

"He'd turned his back on his father. We took away his new family. His wife, his child..."

"So he took us apart too." Aspen sat down on the bed, feeling weary. "Eventually the consequences of our actions were going to catch up to us. No Accords could fix that."

Steve sat next to her. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"We should get some rest. How's Bucky?" Aspen asked.

"He'll be fine," Steve said. "I'm not sure he quite knows what to do now that he's back to being Bucky."

"He's got you," Aspen told him. "Til the end of the line, right?"

Steve smiled a little. "I'm sorry I left you," he said, and she could tell this had been bothering him.

"At the airport? Don't be. I'm sorry I didn't get to Siberia faster. Mostly I'm just sorry any of this had to happen." She lay down on the bed, pulling one of the blankets over her. Steve lay down too, wincing a little from his injuries. "What happens now?" Aspen asked.

Steve was silent for a long while. "I don't know," he told her.

There was more he didn't know, and Aspen knew she needed to tell him soon. She fell asleep before she found the courage to.

…

Aspen slept all night and into the next day, waking to an empty bed and an empty stomach. Someone had left breakfast or maybe lunch next to her, and she ate it as quickly as she could. She wandered out of her room, not really knowing where she was going and ending up back in the medical wing. She was surprised to find Steve and Bucky there, Steve looking unaccountably sad.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"I'm going back into cryofreeze until someone can get all of Hydra's programming out of my head," Bucky told her when Steve didn't answer. "Zemo triggered my programming too easily."

"But…you're safe here," Aspen protested.

"I can't just hide here forever," Bucky told her, giving her a grim smile.

"But we just got you back." She looked over at Steve. He looked devastated, but he didn't argue against Bucky's wishes. Aspen realized she needed to respect them too. "And we'll be waiting when you come back," she said. She walked forward and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back with his one good arm.

"Take care of him," he told her, a mischievous grin twisting up his mouth.

"I will."

They watched as he stepped into the containment unit and as the cold air put him back into cryofreeze. "I'm sorry," Aspen said to Steve.

"Me too. It won't be forever though."

Aspen followed Steve out into the hall where he walked over to one of the tall windows, gazing out in silence. Aspen could tell he was restless. He wouldn't be content to just stay here even if it meant they were safe.

T'Challa found them a few minutes later, quietly joining them at the window. "Thank you for this," Steve told the king.

"Your friend and my father, they were both victims. If I can help one of them find peace..." T'Challa broke off, but Aspen was touched by the kindness he was showing them when just days before they had been fighting for different sides. They'd both been fighting for justice, she supposed. They just hadn't realized who they needed to seek justice from yet.

"You know, if they find out he's here... they'll come for him," Steve warned T'Challa.

"Let them try," the king said, gazing out across the jungle to where a giant panther statue stood, imposing, like a protector of the city.

…

"I'm going after Sam and the others," Steve told Aspen the next day. They were standing out on the balcony that stood off their room, watching the sunrise. "After that…life isn't going to be the same. If you want to stay…"

"I'm coming with you," Aspen told him before he could finish the thought. "We're a team."

"I'm glad to hear that," Steve said, giving her shoulder a nudge. "I might need your help on this one."

"You mean infiltrating a high security lock up that just so happens to be underwater and rescuing four inmates? What lives we lead…" Aspen was a little worried about testing her abilities after what had happened at the airport, but she'd test herself to her limits to save her friends. "There's something I need to tell you before we leave," she blurted before she could put it off any longer.

Steve turned to her, blue eyes focused on her in a way that made her heart pound a little faster. "Anything," he said, waiting for her to speak. She studied him for a moment, appreciating all the little things she loved about him – his blue eyes that really _looked_ at her when she spoke to him, his ruffled blonde hair that was always soft to the touch, his lips that were usually so serious but that she could somehow coax a smile out of. She didn't know how she'd gotten to be so lucky, and sometimes the reality that she was married to him floored her still. She couldn't imagine anyone better to be the father to her child.

"I should have told you sooner but with everything that was happening… _I_ didn't even know until recently. I was just afraid to say something because everything else was more important at the time, and there just never seemed to be an opportunity." She felt incredibly guilty that she had guarded this secret for so long as if it were hers and hers alone. It wasn't. It was his too. What was happening was _theirs_.

"Hey," Steve gently grabbed her shoulders, effectively stopping her rant. "You can tell me anything."

Aspen took a deep breath, the words so close to the tip of her tongue yet refusing to pass her lips. "Steve," she said, watching his face carefully as she spoke. "I'm pregnant."


	63. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** Phew. Two years it took me to write this. Thank you SO much for sticking with me! I appreciate every one of you! This series has come so far and been such a big part of my life since 2014 when The Winter Soldier took my breath away. I have so much fun writing it and can't wait to get into the next one after Infinity Wars comes out. Please check out my new Loki story if that interests you. I will be working on that in the mean time. This is it! It's bitter-sweet finally writing the epilogue. Thank you again for reading, and I hope to see you next year for _A Game of Infinity_!

* * *

 **Epilogue – December 15, 2016**

 **Location Unknown**

 _The sky was awash in multicolored light. Nothing fantastical; only beautiful in its destructive power. Aspen stepped forward over the broken concrete that had once been a city street. Shattered glass crunched underfoot, and broken metal lay twisted and bent all around her. She could hear people crying in the gutted buildings, screams of fear and sobs of despair. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. They were supposed to be Earth's mightiest heroes and yet all around her lay proof of their failure. She felt empty, devoid of power, devoid of hope, devoid of the future she was supposed to have. She'd wanted to leave behind a better world for her child, but this was not better. This was nothing but a void, a black hole waiting to consume humanity._

 _Up ahead a titan figure rose before her, hazy in the smoke from the still raging fires. Ash fell from the sky like dirty snowflakes, streaking her already dirty face with grey. Instead of looking like war paint, it made it look as though she cried ash for tears. Something gold flashed and the colors seared her eyes: red for reality, orange for the soul, yellow for the mind, green for time, blue for space, and purple for power. Together they were unstoppable._

 _How had they let it come to this?_

 _Aspen stood alone on the broken pavement, powerless. She was an Avenger. Power or not, she would fight. She had a job to do, a mission to keep the world safe, to protect it from threats. She might fail, but she wouldn't run. As the figure turned to face her, Aspen readied herself, wishing this day had never come._

…

Aspen woke with a start, breathing hard. She could still smell the ash in the air, feel the heat of burning buildings and hear the screams of the people around her. She sat up in bed, brushing a hand over her swollen stomach. Steve woke up with the movement, putting a hand on her back.

"Are you okay?" he asked, the alarm in his voice startling her. "Are you-"

"Not yet. It's not that." She wasn't due for another month. "It was just a bad dream." But she had seen something like it before when her mind had been opened to the future. Destruction. Death. She shook the thought away. It had felt so real, but already the details were beginning to fade.

"Just promise me we can keep her safe," she said, turning to Steve, her voice breaking as she remembered how hopeless she'd felt in the dream.

"Always," he said, pulling her close and kissing her temple. He cradled her in his arms when she lay down again, her head tucked under his chin. She could hear his breathing deepen after a few minutes, but sleep eluded her. Somehow she couldn't shake the feeling that the dream hadn't just been a dream. Something was coming. Something big and when it came, the world would shake and tremble at its feet.

* * *

Steve and Aspen will return in _**A Game of Infinity**_


End file.
